Fire To The Snow
by gabriel.x0
Summary: Iruka has a secret. That's okay, everybody does. Once Kakashi finds out something is wrong he wants to know the exact reason. Basically, that's also okay. And what if Kakashi is interested exactly in Iruka's secret? /plus SasuNaru
1. Chapter 1

**Note:** BIG thanks to **Rawritsakookye ** for editing this story (!)

:1:

Iruka was on his way home when he saw that a group of three done up men entered the village's gates after a long and tiring mission. As soon as they noticed the teacher, they surrounded him, trapping him into the body-triangle.

"Iruka-sensei! The snow! I liked it so much, oh how I regret you were not there to enjoy it too!" Naruto grinned at his favorite teacher fondly, squeezing the tanned palm in both his hands. "And I missed you all those weeks!"

"You missed our eves by the ramen-counter, I presume," the teacher sighed, pulled his hand out of Naruto's grip and rubbed his temples. He was so tired today, and the mention of the snow didn't add to his mood. Other way round: the mention of the snow was enough to make him behave oddly. But, for his own sake he had to be polite, not sarcastic! Wishing to somehow fix an impression, he made a weak effort. "Still I'm glad you are back here and safe," Iruka gave his former blond student a warm smile. Abruptly, realizing they were not alone, he raised his big brown eyes to the other two men. "I'm certainly glad to see you too, Sasuke," added Iruka quickly, making an eye-contact with the other boy. He received a small weary smile and turned to the next person, already half-way blushing, because now he had to say something likewise warm to the last figure from the just returned group. Iruka started to hate himself for deciding to pass the gates this evening. "And also you…" Even before he opened his mouth to start the talking Iruka knew that man will make it complicated! And the way he was interrupted was evidence enough.

"Maa, save your politeness for someone who really needs it, Iruka-sensei," muttered the silver-haired jounin in front of him, his tone slightly offended. "Though I wonder why you don't like the snow so much," he added, making Iruka freeze only with the gaze of his single gray eye – a very cold and suspicious eye; as cold as the snow in the snow-country.

How did he guess that the snow was the exact reason of Iruka's uneasiness? The first thing Iruka hated about the silver-haired jounin was his immutable straightforwardness. All the skills, which man possessed, and all the wonderful jobs the man did to protect their village, couldn't make Iruka suppress a shudder while speaking to him. The slightest communication between them brought the teacher into the state of complete incompetence, and uncontrolled rage started to run through his whole body; this time was not different. Iruka stiffened and spitted the words in a manner he never allowed himself to use in a conversation with the other people.

"As if it could be for of your concern, Hatake-san. You'd better save your advertence for someone who really believes you mean it."

There was a pause, and then came a response, like a punch in the gut, and Iruka realized he'd got into a trouble there.

"Well, considering your reaction and your facial expression, it could be dangerous for the people around you, Iruka-sensei. I'm afraid I have to declare the problem to our Hokage," The jounin said it seriously, his voice low and threatening. It made Iruka's back reclaim a goose-skin in a second. He started to tremble and almost opened his mouth to yell at the damn jounin to leave him alone, when the cheerful laugh interrupted his uneasy thoughts and two arms pulled him forcefully into a tight hug.

"Don't be mad at Kakashi-sensei, our mission was a tough one indeed," declared Naruto, doing his best to distract Iruka's attention. It didn't help so far, the two men's angry gazes were still crossed. They stared at each other as if ready to jump and beat the hell off out of their opponent. Even Sasuke couldn't stand the competition of the teachers.

"We had it hard," declared the usually uncommunicative boy, "and we are on our way to hand over our mission reports…"

That was a mistake. Sasuke realized it immediately and the half-spoken phrase died on his lips.

"Your mission reports…" Iruka hissed. Now he was distracted indeed! His eyes desired to burn a hole in Kakashi's head. "Your mission reports…" he repeated louder, clenching his fists until his knuckles turned white. An impressive picture of the sample of Kakashi's report appeared before Iruka's inner gaze. A crumpled dirty piece of paper with the bare signs of terrible handwriting… A nice example for the kids! And now he dares to pose a threat…

Naruto frowned, noticing the teacher started to visibly tremble. He loosened his grip and came around, sticking his blond head in front of Iruka's face, so that the eye's contact between the two men was disturbed.

"Iruka-sensei? Are you feeling well?" asked Naruto, giving his favorite teacher a small smile.

Iruka sighed, grateful for Naruto's interruption. It was as if he came up from the depth of the cold cavern. And even the slightest reminder of coldness chaining his limbs always made him loose control. Iruka shook his head, feeling embarrassed of his behavior in front of his former students and particularly in front of their current teacher.

"Sorry Naruto, I'm fine. I think I just need a distraction and some sort of tension's release after the tiring day."

"Release, Iruka-sensei?" he heard Kakashi's mocking voice. "If you need a helping hand I…"

Iruka gritted his teeth angrily. Still, with just a Naruto's shining face in front of him it was easier to ignore the bastard. If not for the brave boy, there was no guaranty he could suppress an urge to slap the man's face, no matter that man somehow happened to be the best jounin for miles around.

"What about the ramen tomorrow?" asked Iruka, smiling back at Naruto and enjoying the fire lighting in the blonde's eyes with the sound of the word 'ramen'. Suddenly he was interrupted.

"Agreed. And I'll expect your explanation about the snow, Iruka-sensei. Otherwise I'll be forced to go to Hokage," said Kakashi firmly, his frame still hidden from Iruka's deadly gaze by Naruto's body.

'So he decided I asked all of them out,' thought Iruka, biting his lower lip. He smiled at Naruto even broader, though he suspected the smile looked rather disgusting. 'Or he probably knows I won't like his presence and wants to tease me. He wishes to see me freaking out, he always does!'

The teacher decided in the last couple of minutes he showed enough impatience. With a polite mutter of, "Go rest, boys, you need it, I'll see you tomorrow," he turned away and ran down the street, looking for a curve to hide in and hating the road for being so straight.

Kakashi shook his head.

"Maa, did you hear it? Iruka-sensei just called us 'boys'!" he said loudly enough to make sure Iruka heard it. "I'm so flattered I think I won't crumple my report today!"

"Kakashi-sensei, stop acting like a kid," muttered Sasuke, heading to the Hokage's tower. "Why do you bother driving Iruka-sensei mad?"

Kakashi shrugged and overtook him easily, immediately falling into the pace of the boy's steps.

"Did you see his reaction on the word 'snow'?" asked Kakashi. "That was remarkable. I wonder…"

Naruto overtook them too and pointed the finger at his superior.

"You'd better stop teasing Iruka-sensei! Who cares he reacts weird? Everybody has some words they react weird at," declared Naruto and demonstratively winked to the frowning Sasuke. "Forget about snow, we are finally back!" Naruto laughed and made a wide gesture with his hand, showing there was no sign of any snow in the fire-country.

'Like hell I will forget,' murmured Kakashi to himself, smiling sheepishly, and he hoped also innocently, at both of his students. He was lucky the boys were too tired to pay attention to his craftiness.

:+:

When Iruka approached the ramen-counter the next day, he saw Naruto and Sasuke sitting there side by side and chatting quietly. The scene made him smile. It was really pleasing to be a witness of how positive and calming the young Uchiha influenced that unstoppable blond hurricane in the little boy's body! Well, sometimes. It happened rarely, but here they were now – young and happy together.

'They are not little boys anymore,' Iruka reminded himself and looked around, afraid to see a person with a silver hair, masked face, orange covered porn-book, or all those things together in one, somewhere near. He noticed nothing similar to that and exhaled, definitely relieved.

"Sorry I'm late," declared Iruka cheerfully and couldn't hide an evil grin, while watching both boys start and blush.

"Wow Iruka-sensei! I thought you were someone else," said Naruto, smiling back at Iruka.

Sasuke nodded to Iruka and gave his friend a slight push with his shoulder.

"The one you have on your mind won't excuse himself for being late, dobe".

"I know it well, teme!" cried Naruto loudly, turning his head to Sasuke and pressing the finger to his chest, "but he definitely could do it at least once!"

Iruka leaned on the counter and watched a furious exchange between the two best friends. He thought that was exactly the true soul's affection he saw now and was very much impressed. How did it happen that he never had such a close friend in his life?

"Snow," murmured a tender voice straight into his ear.

A cold wave passed through Iruka's body and he squeaked powerlessly, falling down past one of the high counter chairs because of sudden weakness in his knees.

Iruka was sure he'd fall. But a strong hand caught him and instead of the floor, his lower back connected with the cushion of the chair.

"You are going to tell me everything about you and the snow," declared the silver-haired jounin, towering above the teacher and hypnotizing him with a stare of two different colored eyes.

Iruka was aware they were being watched by the people around them, their students inclusive, but he didn't care.

"Like hell I will," murmured Iruka, staring back into Kakashi's mismatched eyes. He had the right to have a personal secret, and no one could force him into an intimate talk, not even the best jounin in the world with his damn sharingan!


	2. Chapter 2

:2:

The jounin reclined onto the counter, restricting the space around the seated teacher with his outstretched hands.

"What do I have to do to make you tell me your story about the snow?" It was asked in a tone of a great private confidence so that Iruka had to force down the impulse of leaning forward to start to secretly whisper an answer.

"Well, I don't really know…" he said, drawling out the words. Actually, he hoped it looked like a manner the silver-haired jounin usually used to annoy him. "There is one thing you can do, but I'm quite sure you won't agree to perform it." The thing he thought of was amazingly simple, still Iruka was sure after he announced it, Kakashi would disappear immediately.

"What is it?" wondered Kakashi, really amused by Iruka's behavior. If nothing else, he could say the man flirted with him!

"Take off your mask," declared the teacher, looking straight into Kakashi's eye and wearing an expression of lazy interest. He was surprised how hard it was not to smile or frown in this state. Definitely, the lazy jounin made a great job every single minute.

Kakashi laughed and leaned a little bit closer to the teacher. Iruka considered it a threat, but didn't let a fright appear on his face, he continued to look relaxed and uncaring. Though, the jounin surprised him.

"Haha! Deal!"

"Haha? Really?" In spite of all efforts to stay cool, Iruka's eyes widened right for the hidden delight of the silver-haired man.

"Yes! You tell me the story now, and then I'll take the mask off, for a second!" The way the thin material stretched on the face, revealed that the jounin was grinning and Iruka could swear it was an evil and malevolent grin. So, he decided to be evil and malevolent too.

"I meant you have to show it to everyone here, Hatake-san," he announced, grinning in his turn.

The jounin shrugged and gave the teacher his custom sheepish smile.

"Then you are to tell your story also to everyone, Iruka-sensei".

There was a silence, and then Iruka exhaled loudly.

"No way!" he said firmly.

"Why is that? It won't be fair otherwise!"

At that moment Iruka understood he'd never win the word-game with the silver-haired jounin. And worst, he realized he can be easily cornered and it didn't add to his current mood, he started to rage again.

"How do I know your face is worthy enough to look at?" wondered Iruka angrily, raising his chin higher and looking at Kakashi with a forthright challenge.

"The situation with your story is practically identical" replied Kakashi in the same tone.

Suddenly Naruto's voice invaded the dialog.

"Hey you two! Stop being so mean, we want to hear the story and to see the face too!" The boy jumped up from his chair and stood there shouting and waving his hands in spite of Sasuke's efforts to pull him back to the seat.

"Yes!" cried all the gapers around them. "Tell us! Show us!"

Still, the two men didn't pay attention to anyone, completely sunk in their confrontation.

"Let's see it step by step," Iruka sighed, his student's shouts gave him a slight idea the performance was too emotional. He had to calm down and make another verbal try so the jounin gets off. "In your case – while I'm not going to tell you the story, you'll only get mad at me, because you desire to hear it so badly. In my case – I can live without seeing your face just as I did all those years before today. I'll tell you even more, I'm ready to live without seeing all of you: not only your face, but also your arms and legs and stuff all together!" he ended his speech waving the hands his student's style, which was very disturbing. Iruka started to blush.

Kakashi continued to grin at him.

"So expressive! The stuff too? Are you really sure? You can never say such things for sure until you try them yourself!"

"Don't tease me! What shall I try?" wondered the teacher furiously, losing his control for the hundredth time that day and hating himself for it.

"Maa, I'm a little bit disappointed you call it teasing… If you want my opinion, I guess I'll enjoy if you busy yourself with the stuff!" Kakashi chuckled fondly.

"And what do you mean by that 'stuff'?" hissed Iruka.

"You started the talk about 'stuff', I only admit it." Kakashi decided he could have this talk forever – the angry teacher was too charming. Simultaneously Iruka decided he had it more than enough already.

"Can I ask you to pack your 'stuff' and disappear, please?" he asked, making an effort to stand up. But it was practically impossible with Kakashi blocking the ways out – the man still grabbed the counter on both sides of Iruka's body.

"Well if you need it so much, you can pack it yourself and while your hands are busy I'll be glad to listen to the story about the snow," the silver-haired jounin smiled sheepishly. He was convinced he'd regret this boldness, but the situation was so cute, he couldn't stop.

"So the 'stuff' shall be treated with the hands?" asked Iruka ironically. He realized what Kakashi meant and how dirty the proposition was and grew angrier than ever. Unconsciously, he leaned even more forward, almost touching the man's mask with his scarred nose.

"Whoa!" exhaled one of the nearby gapers. Two men looked like they were ready to apply force on each other and it was the hottest thing to imagine. Some spectators started to unconsciously drool. The only ones who stayed calm were the students, if you can ever call Naruto calm.

"Of course," murmured Kakashi gently, "but it's only because your mouth will be busy with all the talking. Once you are done talking you can change…"

"Oh shut up, right now!" Iruka cried, feeling his cheeks starting to burn.

Kakashi suppressed an urge to lean even lower and touch Iruka's nose with his own. He didn't care that his nose was covered by the mask – he just gained an idea to experience the feeling of that reddening skin's warmth.

"Wow, are you really blushing? Does it mean you are ready to tell me everything?" he even almost lost the thread of the conversation, all he was interested in now was the teacher's hot body located in front of his bending figure.

"I think I'm ready to kill you," declared Iruka straight to the jounin's face.

"Don't do it, we need him as a tutor!" Naruto accomplished a little cry before he was silenced by the strong palm of his friend. Silencing Naruto wasn't Sasuke's intention, but it felt so nice to feel the wiggling body in his arms, that he drew Naruto closer and tightened the grip around the other boy's waist. As soon as Naruto didn't fight him full force yet meant he wasn't objecting much. And that really meant a lot!

The sudden squeak of his student switched Iruka's attention again and he turned his face to the side only to see a little crowd gathered around them, gawking shamelessly. It impressed him to the very end.

"I'll find you a better tutor!" Not able to see the boy, Iruka yelled it in direction he thought Naruto was, "The one who won't be advertising his 'stuff' as a payment in exchange for stories!"

"Ah, you must be misinterpreting me!" the silver-haired man shook his head. It was very polite, but it didn't help – everyone around them seemed to understand what he really meant.

Iruka turned his face back to Kakashi. If the looks could harm, the silver-haired jounin would be already hospitalized.

"No, I'm not misinterpreting!" the teacher started to hiss, "I'll tell you what! I'm going to go and declare you as a pervert!"

That phrase made Kakashi laugh. And not only Kakashi, but almost all the gapers chuckled, amazed with the teacher's naivety.

"That's something new, whom do you want to surprise by with that declaration?"

"You are to be punished for your disturbing insistence!" said Iruka self-righteously.

Now Kakashi was offended. He leaned a little bit back and lowered the tone of his voice.

"I only want your story! I never imagined you were such a tender chick".

Iruka sighed, tired of confrontation.

"Think whatever you like, you'll get nothing out of me!"

"Oh, I think I will," and it was said in a very intriguing tone.

"How are you going to do it?" wondered Iruka.

Kakashi shrugged.

"I'll offer you something in exchange".

"Some stuff?" asked the teacher sarcastically. Just as he thought – there was nothing new the man could offer him.

"If you want particularly that…" Kakashi's murmur was hardly audible and Iruka suppressed the urge to snarl.

"Don't you think we discuss it in a circle motion?"

"I think I'm all ready to die to hear your story".

"Well, help yourself, I'll wash my hands".

"You are so mean!"

"Are you pouting?" The teacher's eyes widened as he watched the expression on Kakashi's face. The face was masked, but Iruka sensed it somehow.

"What if I am?" asked Kakashi.

Iruka decided he won't be distracted by that face any more, but what he said about death was really unacceptable and remembering what he said earlier about wanting to kill the man, he decided to make an excuse.

"I just… sorry I was rude" he drawled, hesitating. The effort went in vain.

"I say I'll show you my face in exchange for your story," reminded the silver-haired man and smiled sheepishly one more time.

"I say I don't care, let me go!"

"I say stop it already!" That loud bark made the both men startle. Simultaneously they turned their faces at the voice and saw their Hokage, watching them intently, her arms crossed. And it was a very furious Hokage.

:+:

All folk around disappeared in an instant, only Naruto and Sasuke sat silently in the farthest corner.

"Brat!" Tsunade turned her face to Kakashi. "You don't know the circumstances, yet you attack an innocent person!" Oh, yes, their Hokage was very angry indeed!

"An innocent person?" muttered Kakashi, looking around demonstratively. "Who's an innocent person?" Kakashi's gaze stopped at the only present man, whom he was still blocking and who had no chance to run away. "Iruka-sensei is an innocent person?"

"Yes, he is," Tsunade nodded.

The jounin continued to talk so slowly and made the pauses so often it was easy to misinterpret him.

"Now when you say he's innocent I believe you! The way he blushes and articulates when angry already made me come…"

"What?" Iruka yelled suddenly, interrupting Kakashi because he was sure his monologue was over. Yet it was something to be embarrassed of – Kakashi's sentence wasn't brought out to the end.

"…come to a conclusion of a similar sort!" The jounin finished the phrase and looked at the teacher disapprovingly.

"Shut up, you, smartass!" yelled Iruka, totally loosing losing control. He knew exactly what the silver-haired man wanted to say and was sure it was another tease.

"Did you hear it? Our innocent teacher bites back," Kakashi sent Hokage a sheepish smile.

"One more sarcastic sentence and I'll allow him to bite your ass! Figuratively," pointed Tsunade.

Kakashi emitted a dramatic whine and rolled his eyes.

"Please no! He has to have his mouth free to tell me a nice, long story about the snow."

"Instead of a nice, long story about the snow, you are getting a nice, long punishment," Hokage announced her verdict, grinned and turned around to leave.

"For what?"

"For torturing a valuable teacher of the village I assign you to complete all the tasks he'll give you during the next week".

"Well, you are mean too!" Kakashi whined again.

Iruka's blush continued to deepen.

"Indeed," the teacher addressed Hokage, ready to fight. He didn't want to have an annoying jounin around him for the whole week! "I don't really know what to do with Hatake-san!"

"I think you'll invent something special to make him busy for the sake of the village," pointed Tsunade. Inwardly laughing she praised herself for that little sneakiness: Iruka was too obedient to confront 'for the sake of the village'-type of task.

"Maybe I can think of a couple of useful tasks," muttered Iruka. "Do I have a full permission to make him busy?"

"Do anything you want," With those words Tsunade left.

"Thank you very much, Hokage-sama!" Iruka smirked sarcastically.

"Am I going to hear the story if I complete all your tasks properly?" drawled the lazy jounin.

"I'll make sure by the time you complete the tasks you'll forget the story exists," came the answer.

"Maa, sounds inspiring! I'm all yours!" said Kakashi and stepped back, leaving Iruka free.

"Was Kakashi-sensei always that suicidal?" wondered Sasuke, quietly muttering the question directly in his friend's ear.

Naruto fought him to make his mouth free and chuckled.

"Think whatever you want, but I know that I'd do anything to be in his place and spend my time with Iruka-sensei!"

"Ready to sacrifice your eye, dobe?"

"Shut up, teme!"


	3. Chapter 3

:3:

"Yes, you are still punished, brat," pointed Hokage, comfortably settling on her chair and squinting at the single bottle of sake, hidden near the left inner side of her huge table. She counted it once: there could be six big bottles or eighteen small bottles well-hidden, or one hundred thirty two middle-size bottles not-so-well-hidden, that meant all the space under the table would be occupied. A single bottle was a tease to compare it with a full-house, but it was big and it was almost full. Tsunade sighed. She had to open it in the morning after a very remarkable affair, which involved one of her most valuable chuunin, "but I need you to answer a question."

A silver-haired man raised his eyebrow and sent Hokage a lazy glare of his visible eye as if challenging her to surprise him. Tsunade grinned; she was going to have her fun!

"Tell me – how many men have passed out in your arms?" demanded Hokage. "Take your time and think properly. You can't count professional cases of spying, killing or torturing," she added, observing the jounin's face attentively.

To the jounin's credit, he didn't even blink, or in his 'masked' state – wink. He just stared at her for a minute.

"If you count only private matters, I had two and a half," declared Kakashi.

Tsunade was amazed.

"How is that – a half?"

Kakashi winced, averting his eye and looking out of the window.

"You don't really want to know," said he, "If we are done with the questions, I'd rather return to my punishment".

Actually, his punishment didn't even start. Kakashi had some nasty suspicions Iruka made his best to avoid his humble person and was going to continue it as long as possible. That seemed like a challenge! Kakashi licked his lips under the mask. He loved challenges!

"I overtook you, I had three," declared Tsunade, ignoring the jounin's effort to escape. "The third one made it today," she raised her brow, noticing Kakashi wasn't really impressed. "And by the way – I chose another punishment for you!"

This time it worked – now she had the silver-haired man's full attention.

"Does Iruka-sensei know about your decision?" wondered Kakashi.

"Well, he will soon," Tsunade shrugged. "He lies there," she pointed a finger in direction of the couch, "unconscious".

Kakashi jumped down from the windowsill he sat at and approached a couch, frowning.

"Why is he here?"

"I caught him sneaking out of the mission room's window. It looks like he was running away when you entered its door," shared Tsunade.

Kakashi shrugged.

"Maa… and I always considered him wise…"

"Same here. Can you wake him up?" asked Tsunade, still watching the jounin interestedly.

"Let's see," Kakashi muttered, checking Iruka's chakra pathways with his sharingan. Soon enough Iruka moaned and tried to open his eyes.

"I can," Kakashi declared, turning his face back to Hokage and waving in Iruka's direction. The teacher blinked owl-style and was on his way to sit up.

"Very good," Tsunade smiled. "You are a really skillful jounin, Kakashi. That's why I promote you to accompany Iruka to the snow country".

As soon as those words left Hokage's mouth, they heard a sound of something heavy fall down. Iruka, who almost gained a sitting position, was lying on the floor, unconscious again.

:+:

"Ready to listen?" Tsunade returned to her desk and reclaimed her favorite position – with the bottle in full sight.

"Yes," drawled Kakashi. He still stood near the unconscious teacher and watched his chest raise and fall. The breathing was unstable and it made the jounin nervous somehow. He suppressed an impulse to wake the man up again.

After a minute of staring at the body, Kakashi suppressed another impulse, this time to embrace the teacher and hold him tight until he calmed down. Kakashi shook his head. The easiest way to calm a person down was to squeeze their neck until they were dead. Iruka-sensei wasn't the case to perform that technique, so the jounin sighed and turned his masked face to Hokage.

"Don't you dare to think about harming Iruka!" she declared threateningly. She waited for Kakashi to nod and continued. "Iruka is not only a good teacher, he is also a skillful negotiator. I'll be damned if I know why the next summit considering peaceful relations between the villages takes place in the snow-country! But I want Iruka to be there; because he's able to convince them we want peace not war."

"I didn't notice him being very persuasive," muttered Kakashi. He squatted near the couch and patted Iruka's head soothingly. The sleeping teacher hummed, leaning into the touch, and so Kakashi just simply had to start to stroke his hair.

"Right now, he convinced me a lazy pervert like you can be gentle, I guess it's quite enough," Tsunade grinned evilly.

The silver-haired jounin gave her his professional deadly glare and returned to his previous activity.

"By the way, for your information – Iruka is not a dog, so you have to treat him another way."

"And what's the problem with the summit?" asked Kakashi, ignoring Hokage's sarcasm. For himself the jounin decided he can find his own way to treat the teacher, if he'll wish to treat him of course.

"I want Iruka to represent our village there, but it's a snow-country we are talking about," Tsunade sighed tiredly and licked her lips, squinting at the bottle, which was so near yet so far!

"Iruka hates snow," Kakashi smiled at the teacher, who was breathing normally now, and continued to perform the slight strokes, enjoying the way the long and strong hair strands slid between his fingers.

"Oh, so you noticed it," muttered Tsunade teasingly.

"I still wonder why…" Almost unconsciously, Kakashi's voice lowered to a whisper. "I didn't forget about the snow, Iruka."

Tsunade coughed and received another deadly glare from the silver-haired jounin.

"Kakashi, look, I understand he won't let you do it when he's awake, but please, concentrate on what I am talking about. It's really important."

Kakashi frowned at himself and cursed for being that obvious.

"I'm listening," he barked, not stopping his work on the brown hair.

"Do you know the way creatures turn mad because of hunger? Or loose control because of internal lust? The madness that regains one's body can be caused by different reasons. In Iruka's case it's the coldness," said Tsunade firmly. She noticed that Kakashi's single eye widened in realization and continued the story. "Once, while being a small boy, Iruka froze almost to death and it ruined his blood circulation. It's similar to disease the mere civilians suffer, so I can't fix it properly. When Iruka feels that coldness claims his body he looses his mental normality and becomes hysteric."

"Is that all?" wondered the jounin calmly. "So you just need to keep him warm and everything will be alright," he decided. He knew it won't be that easy, still he could think positive, couldn't he?

"Yes. The only problem – when a lot of snow is around, Iruka chucks away his inner warmth very quickly. And it's awfully hard to make him warm again, especially if he looses control."

"Want me to keep him warm for you?" murmured the silver-haired jounin saucily.

"Will you do it for me?" asked Tsunade, a definite doubt in her voice.

Kakashi nodded and caressed the scarred skin above Iruka's nose with the non-distinctive tenderness.

"I can promise I'll do my best. As long as I'm with him, if he looses control it won't be because of coldness," smirked Kakashi. With him, if Iruka lost control, it would most likely be because of irritation or anger.

"Well… okay. Anyway, for now I have no other candidate skillful enough to accomplish this escort-mission," pointed Tsunade, slightly relieved the man agreed without any difficulties. 'Hey, bottle,' she added mentally, 'it's time to play only for two of us!'

"If I were you," said Kakashi, squinting at his suddenly happy Hokage, "I'd not joke about skillfulness on escort-missions."

"Of course, Kakashi, of course. But if I were you, I'd better watch what my hands do. I guess no one can stay unconscious when their chest is treated so… skillfully!"

The silver-haired jounin froze and slowly turned his face to Iruka's. His one visible eye met two opened wide shocked brown eyes. Kakashi squeaked and immediately pulled his hands away from Iruka's nipples. Deep in thoughts about the mission, he didn't notice his hands lowering so far and starting to rub them.

:+:

Genma and Raido were on duty. Having an early shift at the gates had its benefits as well as difficulties. Today they had luck to be spectators and amuse themselves with the breathtaking show of heartbreaking parting. Actually, Iruka parted with his warm beloved nest, leaving for the cold snow-country. And, as if by request, the morning turned out ridiculously cold, so the teacher was almost crying. He wasn't whining aloud only because there were three people to wish him a good trip – those happened to be two of his students and a Hokage.

Hokage came there just to be sure he will leave at all. Taking into view Iruka's unwillingness to go to the snow and his lazy guardian, a chance he stays was too big.

Kakashi stood near Iruka, uncaring expression on his face.

"Bye Iruka-sensei, bye Kakashi-sensei!" cried Naruto, grinning wide, one hand at the back of his head.

"Bye Iruka-sensei, bye Kakashi-sensei!" muttered Sasuke, slightly nodding to each of them, which was the highest level of the Uchiha's politeness.

"Bye Iruka-sensei, bye Kakashi-sensei!" said Tsunade sarcastically, watching both men with amusement, as if wondering what their communicating will lead to.

Genma applauded loudly. He was going to shout 'bravo', but got a painful push to his ribs from his partner.

"Don't be ridiculous!" hissed Raido into his ear threateningly. Genma shuddered. No, he wasn't afraid. He was rather highly stirred up.

Raido squinted at his excited partner and sighed. Now, when Genma's attention was redirected, Iruka and Kakashi could leave the village in relative peace. On the other hand, he had to deal with the consequences of his kindness. Raido received a push of the Genma's hip and grit his teeth. Whatever you are ready to do for your friends! Not that he disliked the attention in his turn, of course… They only had to wait until those poor jerks go away…

But the men were not in a hurry at all. Iruka continued to tremble and look very unhappy.

At the end even Kakashi's patience was at its limits.

"Maa, Iruka-sensei, I guess we should go, we have a long way before us. That is if we want to reach a shelter today and not to sleep in the field, hungry and cold!"

It was almost a lie, but the effect was amazing – Iruka's eyes lit up and he nodded firmly.

"Yes, Hatake-san, let's go as quickly as possible!" he said it waving a last goodbye to his friends and the village. And then, Kakashi had his very first opportunity to get surprised by the speed of Iruka's run.

:+:

"Hey, Sasuke!" called Naruto. They were walking back home from the gates and he was thinking hard, it was written on his face. "Do you know the jutsu Kakashi-sensei is going to use on Iruka-sensei to keep him warm?"

"Hn," Sasuke squinted at his blond friend suspiciously, "Why do you ask?"

Naruto shuddered. The morning was definitely chilly! The warming jutsu could be very useful.

"I wonder if it is something sharingan-connected. If not, I want to learn it too!"

Sasuke grinned inwardly.

"It has nothing to do with the sharingan," he declared, doing his best to look calm and ignorant.

"Really?" Naruto cried right as Sasuke expected him to cry, "Can you teach me then?"

"If you think you need it…"

"Yes! I'm freezing, so you can start to teach me right now!" Suddenly Naruto stopped, noticing his friend changed the direction. "Hey, where do you think you are you going, teme?"

"My place, dobe. Hurry up before I changed my mind to teach you."

"Oh! Okay!" Naruto hurried, overtaking his friend and falling to the pace of quick steps.

Sasuke looked at Naruto sideways and smirked. Like hell he was going to let the dobe escape a warming technique. Likewise – as soon as he asked for it himself he'll be rather hot then warm after the lesson!


	4. Chapter 4

:4:

Sasuke sat on the floor and watched Naruto do squats.

"Hundred more, dobe!" He said it very loud to be sure his blond friend heard him.

"Hey, I'm not freezing any more, thanks to the silly squats!" barked Naruto.

"Continue!" Sasuke made his voice dominant, and Naruto moved on without even thinking of further objections. "For you to get the idea you have to do a lot," Teasing that dobe was so much fun!

"It's a sort of like Gai-sensei's training!" muttered Naruto, obeying his friend's instructions. "I guess I did enough already. And I doubt Iruka-sensei is going to do squats!"

"No one plans to make Iruka-sensei do squats, dobe! That won't warm his body until he trains hard for at least an hour. But you are not Iruka-sensei, so I just explained the best method to get warm exclusively for you. Kakashi-sensei will probably use something else."

"What exactly?" asked Naruto interestedly.

Sasuke hummed, enjoying the view of Naruto's body move up and down and up and down...

"He'd probably use his hands to warm Iruka-sensei," he declared finally.

"You mean Kakashi-sensei is going to stimulate his blood circulation by rubbing his skin?!" cried Naruto, almost falling on his ass.

"I'm quite sure he thought about it," murmured Sasuke, "Because that procedure induces the quickest result."

Suddenly Naruto straightened. Panting hard after the crazy amount of squats, he came directly to the corner where Sasuke sat and pointed a finger at his friend's face.

"You promised to teach me that jutsu!" he hissed angrily, "but you make me do something useless instead!"

"Let's see if I get you right…" drawled Sasuke, his voice provocative and full of sarcasm, "Are you telling me I should now stimulate your blood circulation by rubbing your skin?"

That question caught Naruto's breath. What he wanted was only to learn a useful jutsu! And Sasuke's sudden contemplation seemed to him rather absurd and unbelievable. Still, somehow it was also thrilling, and inspired him to get a try, just as every inventive creature could wish to do. He inhaled sharply and kicked a naughty thought out of his head.

Naruto didn't even expect it; once that kind of thought found a way into his blond head, it would surely come back later, when his temper was calmed. Also he didn't expect that kind of thought could have plans to conquer his mind and make him do strange things…

"I'll never ever want something like that!" Naruto's shout still echoed in the room, when he turned around and left, slamming the door behind him hard in his fury.

Sasuke sighed. It wasn't his intention to start the day like this. Gosh, what was he thinking about while talking to his friend in such a manner? He made a mental note to find a possibility and fix the situation. Naruto couldn't be mad at him for long, right?

:+:

Iruka's teeth chattered – the sun had sunk over the horizon two hours ago and there was no warm shelter anywhere in sight!

"We are going to spend the night here," Kakashi declared it and stopped near a small cave.

"Is it a joke, Hatake-san?" muttered Iruka. His voice trembled just like his entire body, "This morning you told me we can reach the shelter today!"

"I lied! ...to inspire you," And Kakashi was impudent enough to wink at the teacher, "We are staying right here," he pointed at the ground under his feet.

Iruka suspected the silver-haired jounin was a rascal. So that turned out to be as true as the fact the ground was cold. Everything was cold – the air, and the blowing wind, and the stones, and the cave and the nature itself around them. There was no way he could bear it! If he stays here, he'll die on this cold and empty surface. Iruka gritted his teeth – he started to panic.

"I'm not staying here, I'm going home!" he cried, already freaking out. He even managed to turn around and take a step back to the village, when two warm hands entwined around his waist and held him in place.

"No, you are staying here with me," murmured Kakashi into Iruka's ear.

The sudden touch and the sensation of breath on his cheek made Iruka shudder. He darted to escape the strong embrace.

"I can't stay here, it is damn cold! Let me go, I must leave!" the teacher fought, but in vain.

Kakashi chuckled and pulled Iruka's back to his chest.

"You have to calm down and relax, and then everything will be alright," he whispered.

"No!" Iruka was too much affected by the coldness chaining his limbs to notice anything else. "No! It can't be alright! Everything is awful, because it's cold! Let me go, Hatake-san!"

"Iruka-sensei, please, stop being a kid!" Kakashi tightened his grip on the teacher's body, "I'm warm enough for both of us. Don't you feel it?"

"What? Just let me go…" Iruka cried, not quite getting the sense of the jounin's words.

"I say we are to combine our blankets and I'll warm you through the night!" barked Kakashi, fed up with Iruka's whining. He never imagined it could be so bad. But he was a jounin and had to manage the situation, "I'm warm enough for both of us," He said it again, hoping that teacher would finally get the idea.

"What?" Iruka coughed – this time he seemingly understood he had to listen to the words.

Kakashi rolled his eyes and growled.

"You are repeating yourself, Iruka-sensei! Moreover, you make me repeat myself!" he squeezed the teacher's body in his arms, getting a delicious squeak, "I'm warm! Don't you feel that I'm warm?"

"I feel…" mumbled Iruka weakly.

"I'm warm and you are cold, right? So I'll press my body into your body and you'll feel warm all night long. The night will be cold, yes, but you'll be under the blanket with me and you'll be hot…" Kakashi paused admiring the silly nonsense he was twiddling and chuckled, "…I mean – warm!"

"But that's not possible…"

"I say I'll do it, Iruka-sensei, which means I'll do anything to achieve the proper result!" barked Kakashi.

"It's not necessary, I'm okay, really," Now Iruka was afraid. The jounin didn't convince him in whatever he wanted to convince him. But, he made the teacher shudder in uneasy fear of his inevitable insistence – that was for sure.

"No you are not okay!" growled Kakashi, "You are trembling!"

"It's because you are damn scary! I feel cold and you are scary! So let me go!" shouted Iruka, darting furiously.

Kakashi's eye widened.

"You lack the logical sense, Iruka-sensei," he muttered, loosening his grip around the teacher's waist, but not letting the man go.

Iruka realized he got a little bit of freedom and turned around to face the silver-haired jounin.

"Home!" He cried, sure he is more convincing when loud, "I want home! It's warm and comforting there! I want to go back to my village!"

Kakashi sighed and pressed their foreheads together.

"Listen, Iruka-sensei. We have a mission we must accomplish for our village and its citizens to be safe. Are you okay with that?"

Iruka nodded. He started to feel the warmth of the body he was pressed to now, so the words, told in a smooth calm voice, were finally reaching his brain and turned out to be surprisingly convincing. The warmth was appealing and it was just there, hidden in the silver-haired man. Iruka wanted more of that warmth!

"We are going to make everything possible to do our task the right way," continued Kakashi, "I'm with you here, and I'm from your village. That means I'm your home for now. You only have to be around me and I promise you I'll make you warm when you need it," Kakashi started to loose the thread of what he was talking about. It was already the second occasion during the short time he spent with Iruka. Kakashi noted he must be more intent!

When he stepped back, the teacher stood in place, not making any further efforts of escape. Kakashi took out his blanket and spread it on the ground under the protective arch of the cave.

"Lay down," he commanded. And Iruka obeyed surprisingly quickly. Kakashi squinted at him and pulled out another blanket, covering the teacher's body, and then crawled under the blanket, too.

Iruka was trembling again and leaned to the source of warmth as soon as Kakashi got near.

"Now I know the exact reason why they didn't let you apply for a jounin rank," whispered Kakashi. Iruka darted and made an attempt to kick the man next to him. But they were too close to each other to succeed that kind of action. Kakashi laughed, "Easy there!"

He made the teacher turn around and pulled him into a tight embrace with his back to Kakashi's chest.

They lay there, wrapped in the blankets, sharing the warmth. Soon enough Kakashi felt Iruka started to relax into his touch and moved even closer.

"Hatake-san…" Iruka's voice was unsure and weak.

"Yes? Is something wrong, Iruka-sensei?" asked Kakashi, "Are you still feeling cold?"

Iruka shook his head, making Kakashi tilt his own head to dodge being slapped on the face by the perky pony-tail.

"No! I feel good…"

"What is it then?"

"I… I've brought sandwiches… maybe you want one now?" wondered the teacher, remembering about politeness once he felt comfortable again.

"Thank you, but I think I have everything I need right now," declared the jounin, "We can eat them in the morning."

"But I thought…"

"As far as I'm the only one source of warmth for miles around, you are to obey me, so sleep already," muttered Kakashi, a little bit annoyed. First the man was hysteric, then he was a fury, and now he is what? – caring?

"Yes, oh mighty source!" murmured the teacher, fidgeting in Kakashi's arms to gain the best position. He found one soon and sighed happily, "Good night, Hatake-san."

"Night, Iruka-sensei," responded Kakashi, watching the curve of the teacher's neck right in front of his face. He smirked and buried his masked nose in that inviting place not even thinking if he should do it at all. Sensing Iruka's approving purr, he closed his eyes and tightened his hands around the accessible body. He definitely liked the teacher this way better than any other way!

:+:

The sandwich was cold. It tasted good though. And as long as Iruka was wrapped into the still warm blanket he didn't care much. Also, it was entertaining to watch his companion.

Kakashi sat on the fallen tree trunk and trifled with his sandwich, turning it around and watching it from all sides. He was definitely unsure if he should eat it.

"I promise it's not poisoned," said Iruka. He knew that wasn't the reason of the jounin's hesitation, but he could have his fun too, couldn't he? "I can nip off a piece from the side you choose," suggested Iruka after the short pause during which the jounin continued his manipulations and seemingly ignored the teacher. "Or I can…"

"Every now and then you reveal a new side of your character to me, Iruka-sensei. Thank you very much and stop being a mocking ass, please," The silver-haired man's voice was angry and threatening. Iruka was happy Kakashi watched the sandwich and not him.

"Well, sorry, Hatake-san," Iruka decided to apologize, because he was mocking indeed. He bowed low, but when he raised the head, his face was lit with an idea, "You know what! I'm going to close my eyes now and not going to open them until you are done with eating and will tell me I can look at you!"

Kakashi frowned, surprised by the teacher's suggestion.

"What if you'll cheat and pry?"

"I won't!" cried Iruka in an offended tone, "And I can eat with my eyes closed."

"But what if you'll do it anyway?" speculated Kakashi.

"If I'll pry anyway, then…" Iruka thought for a while and then looked into the silver-haired jounin's single visible eye, "If I'll cheat and pry, you can ask whatever you want me to do for you."

Kakashi wondered if he could consider that as a price enough for a look at his legendary face. It was laughable that the teacher was so serious with such a mere nothing. More than a half of their village saw his face. They just didn't like to talk about it. Well, Kakashi made sure they wouldn't talk.

"Deal!" said Kakashi and smiled at the teacher sheepishly.

Iruka exhaled in unexpected relief, smiled back at the jounin, and closed his eyes.

Kakashi pulled his mask down and took a bite of the sandwich.

"Wow! It's really tasty! Do you have a special recipe?"

"That's my little secret," Iruka swallowed the last piece of sandwich and smiled again, "Can you give me one more, please?" he asked, blindly pointing his finger in direction where he remembered the box with sandwiches stood.

"Sure," Kakashi nodded, chewing his own sandwich fondly. He reached the box, took the sandwich from the pile and brought it to Iruka's face, "open your mouth."

"I…" Iruka started. He stretched his hand and thought Kakashi will put the sandwich on his palm, but got it pushed into his mouth instead. Groaning, he took the sandwich out and furiously squeezed it in his fingers, simultaneously opening not only his mouth to yell, but also his eyes. That was exactly what they call a 'tacit reaction', but who cares?

"I didn't ask you to feed me, you…!" Iruka cried, gazing at Kakashi, his expression angry. The moment those words were said and the moment his look stopped on the jounin's face, he was stunned. Kakashi sat there stunned too, staring back at Iruka, a half-eaten sandwich in his mouth.

There was a long uncomfortable pause.

"Ah, sorry!" muttered Iruka, closing his eyes shut, "I saw nothing, okay?"

Kakashi took his time and slowly removed the sandwich out of his mouth. The teacher waited, blind and ready for everything.

"Don't be ridiculous and open your eyes. I know you saw me," Kakashi waited until Iruka looked at him again and demonstratively took another bite, then, grinned widely, "You owe me one wish now, Iruka-sensei."

"Sorry…"

"It's okay; just don't tell anyone you saw my face."

"What if I do?"

"I wonder why you continue to challenge me…" Kakashi murmured, chewing the last piece of his sandwich and smirking at Iruka. "Let's say – if you tell a living creature what I look like under my mask, I'll make you dislike the wish you owe me."

Iruka couldn't help himself and asked another question.

"And what if I'll tell what your face looks like to someone already after I accomplish your wish?"

Kakashi hummed and took one more sandwich.

"Then you'll owe me one more wish, and I'll make you dislike it," he declared simply.

Iruka watched him chewing for a little while, and then averted the eyes, his face covered in a faint blush.

"You're surprisingly cute," he muttered quietly to the side.

"I'm sorry?" Kakashi pretended he didn't hear what the teacher said.

"I said I'm getting cold."

"Right," Kakashi swallowed the last piece of sandwich and pulled his mask up. "Let's run onwards."


	5. Chapter 5

:5:

"Why are you slowing down?" asked Kakashi, laying his hand on Iruka's shoulder and stopping him.

He already knew the answer though – it was raining. The teacher was soaking wet, as was everything around them, including Kakashi himself. But opposite to the jounin's stoic behavior, Iruka looked like a mess: a trembling whining creature, which barely moved and intended to shrink into a ball.

"Can I stay here and die, please?" asked the teacher weakly, abandoning all attempts to look strong and sagging to the ground. He sat under the cold rain, and the tears rolled down his cheeks mixing with the rain drops.

"No you can't!" declared Kakashi, pulling the non-resistant body up and under the nearest tree, where the rain wasn't so intensive. He made the teacher lean on the tree trunk and pulled the blanket out of his bag. "Hands up, Iruka-sensei, I want you to hold this blanket above your head."

Iruka raised his eyes to the jounin's face, stared at him for a while and averted his apathetic gaze to the side.

"Why should I? Leave me here and run on, Hatake-san," The teacher's mutter was as apathetic as his look.

Kakashi sighed and forcefully pushed the blanket into the teacher's palms, making him squeeze it; then he gripped his wrists and pulled them up – above their heads.

"Now stay still," he murmured, unzipping Iruka's vest.

Iruka felt vulnerable and exposed, while staying in the sort of a star-pose, but he didn't care much anymore. He even stopped the permanent trembling, because he didn't feel his hands and feet – every part of him seemed dumb and cold. Still, the sound of his vest's zipper going down made his gaze a little bit focused.

"Wha…?" he only managed to mumble it, when realized the jounin in front of him was laughing.

"I wonder if your reaction would differ if I choose to unzip your pants instead, Iruka-sensei," Kakashi hummed, observing a slight hints of blush appear on the teacher's pale face. It meant the body responded, and it was very good. The silly teacher should have told him earlier he was at his limits!

Iruka felt a tension in his hands and realized he was holding the damn blanket. He wanted to drop it, but the very next moment got completely distracted, because Kakashi put his hands under the flaps of his vest and slid the palms up and down his chest and along his ribs. Iruka's breath caught and he darted to escape the sudden touch.

"I told you to stay still, don't make me tie you," hissed Kakashi. He concentrated chakra in the tips of his fingers and started to induce the limp body to return it to its normal functioning. The fingertips ran up to the shoulders, slid down the spine, explored the legs and the stomach and, finally, the jounin straightened to reach Iruka's hands. When everything was done, Kakashi extracted the blanket from the teacher's trembling fingers and carefully wrapped it around Iruka's shoulders, making the man lean to his body.

Iruka dropped his hands with relief and sighed. He sensed the blood running in his veins normally again, and it was warm under the blanket and near Kakashi, so it felt perfectly wonderful!

"Put your hands under my shirt," commanded Kakashi, drawling the teacher even closer and tightening the embrace around his shoulders.

"B-b-but they are cold!" whispered Iruka. He raised his head and looked into Kakashi's eye, "They are very cold!"

"And that's why you must do it, Iruka-sensei," said Kakashi patiently. "Do it now and don't make me do it for you!"

Iruka bit his lower lip. If that silver-haired jounin was masochistic indeed and wanted it so badly, he could ensure it for him without a problem! He smirked and slid his ice-cold fingers under Kakashi's shirt and up his deliciously warm spine.

"Oh!" The jounin shuddered and grit his teeth. He noticed that Iruka watched him with a smirk on his face. Well, at least the teacher was livid again! "That's okay," declared Kakashi, sounding not at all convincing.

"Is it?" wondered Iruka, smirking wider. His palms slid down along Kakashi's spine straight to his tail bone and turned around to press the still cold backsides of the hands into the hot flesh.

"Ah!" cried Kakashi. He didn't expect the teacher could do something mean like that! "Sorry for my language, Iruka-sensei, but you can be such a bitch sometimes!" he exhaled, calming down after the shake.

Iruka chuckled and leaned closer to the jounin, pressing their bodies even harder. His head rested on Kakashi's shoulder now, his hands were warm and his body felt just great. It was so good, he wanted to purr and may be he also did, but he didn't care. He decided – the rascal jounin can call him anything he chooses as long as he makes him feel like this.

"We should move on, three more hours to the border of the snow-country," muttered Kakashi, resting his hand on the teacher's head and stroking the brown hair lightly.

"In a minute," murmured Iruka. That was a terrible lie of course: he decided he was going to stay like this forever.

:+:

They arrived to the snow-village right on time when Iruka fell into his first phase of a furious monster. The teacher was obviously angry and rubbed his stiffening fingers nervously. Kakashi watched him, chewing his lower lip under the mask. He spent such a time to convince that man to move onwards, and there it started again!

On the one hand, he was happy Iruka didn't reach the second phase of a whimpering whelp yet. On the other hand he, personally, preferred the whimpering Iruka, because it was rather easy to satisfy him with warmth; and the furious Iruka could be dangerous for people around, especially in the unknown village: the way the teacher repeatedly clenched and unclenched his fists, popping his knuckles, could be easily misinterpreted as a desire of fight; add there a venomous expression on the face, combined with infamous temper, and here you have a real trouble! In spite of the knowledge this all this was caused by coldness, Kakashi was very much concerned about the result of their mission. Who could ever suspect a messenger of peace to behave like that?

"Can I substitute you on today's session?" asked Kakashi, "I think you should rest after the journey…"

Iruka stopped and turned to the silver-haired jounin, his fists clenched and knuckles white.

"I can imagine that!" cried the teacher, making Kakashi take a step back, "You'll sit on the session, half-asleep and abstain to express any worthy thoughts. And then, approximately in the middle of the session, you'll put a hand into your pocket and pull a book in orange cover right out of there!" he caught Kakashi by the collar and drew him closer to his face, trying to catch the expression of the single visible eye, "What? Don't you dare look at me so innocently! Or may be you want to convince me you'll act differently from what I described just now?"

Kakashi smirked under his mask, very much flattered by the teacher's note about 'innocent look'.

"Maa, Iruka-sensei, I'll probably pull my book out right in the beginning of the session…" He didn't manage to end that provocative sentence, when the cold, but still firm, palm connected with his nape, giving it a loud slap. "Ouch!" muttered Kakashi, objecting, though he knew he deserved it for his uncovered teasing, "that hurts!"

Iruka turned around and made several steps along the street before he realized he doesn't know where to find the central tower. He sighed and returned to Kakashi.

"I guess you want to apologize?" asked Kakashi sarcastically, rubbing his head. Not that it was very painful. The fact he received that slap was humiliating and only showed how trustful he'd been around the teacher. Still, there was no chance he could take his time and worry about it: he had another problem – a furious Iruka was gripping his vest again.

"I want to…" started Iruka, but got distracted by the heat, that radiated from the jounin's body. And, instead of further talking, he made his cold hands slip to the edge of Kakashi's collar and all the way down the spine, until his forearms rested on the jounin's shoulders, embracing his neck. Kakashi shuddered, but said nothing, just put his hands on Iruka's waist to steady himself and observed the scarred face in front of him gaining the expression of highest gratification.

"What a pleasure to watch the hidden-leaf ninja so happy," said a rusty voice, interrupting the idyll.

Both men tensed and simultaneously turned their heads to the sound of the strange voice, their cheeks pressed together. A tall slim man stopped near them, and a nasty smirk, which stretched his thin lips, expressed his thoughts better than any words could.

Iruka realized they stood in the middle of the street of the central snow-village and hugged each other – Kakashi's hands around his waist and his own hands all over Kakashi's shoulders. It must have been quite a view! The fact they felt each other's muscles strained because of sudden interruption didn't add to their calmness. Iruka suspected they both were blushing like mad. Okay, Kakashi's face was almost completely hidden under his mask and hitai-ate, but every bit of his own face was exposed and bright red for sure!

And who was that man? Iruka realized he and Kakashi knew each other, because the man looked directly into the silver-haired jounin's eye with an obvious challenge.

"The session is to begin in ten minutes. Are you in or there are other important…"

"We are in," said Kakashi angrily, unconsciously tightening his grip around the teacher's waist. Iruka squinted at his companion, but didn't complain, deciding they were already compromised enough. Besides, his hands were warm and the reason to be angry escaped from his head.

"I'll see you there then," The man winked and went away, humming a sort of playful melody.

"Bastard," hissed Kakashi, watching the man's back.

"So, you know him?" stated Iruka, slightly interested.

"Yes, I do," declared Kakashi. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Yes, I feel good right now," Iruka smiled at the jounin, "Thank you."

"So may be you'll be kind and let me free then?" wondered Kakashi, loosening his grip around Iruka's waist. Iruka squeaked, pulled his hands away from underneath of jounin's shirt and made a step back. Kakashi exhaled. "Next time you'll realize you need to warm your hands – just come to me and do it. There is no reason to start a fight beforehand."

"Okay," muttered Iruka, "It's only… well, I never know when the line is crossed. I always think I freak out because of other reasons, this coldness makes me totally confused!" He articulated vividly, making an effort to explain how his disease worked, but failed. Finally Iruka sighed and raised his head to look at Kakashi, "I'm really sorry you have so many troubles with me, Hatake-san, but…" he paused, because he didn't know what 'buts' must be there, "Um… shall we go now?"

The jounin watched him for a while, with a strange expression on his masked face. Iruka could swear he never saw the lazy pervert look like that! Something in the last thought caught his attention and the teacher frowned. The weirdest thing in it was – he didn't think of that silver-haired man as of a lazy pervert any more! Even in spite of all Iruka's recent allegations, he realized he didn't believe in it himself. How could it be?

"Yes," Kakashi's voice broke Iruka's meditative state. The jounin nodded to the teacher and waved in direction they had to take, "this way."

:+:

Naruto pointed a finger at the stirring bush and shouted.

"You there! Come out! I'm… I'm not scared of you!"

Some branches cracked and moved to the sides, and a very disgusted Sasuke crawled out.

"Damn, dobe!" he cried, "Why do I have to look for you the whole day long, and why do I find you in this forgotten place of all the others? See – I'm totally scratched now!"

Naruto sighed and returned to his position on the edge of the cliff.

"I just… miss them…" His whisper was very sad and hardly audible, but Sasuke heard it. He came closer to the cliff and sat near his friend.

"I miss them too," he said quietly and squeezed Naruto's shoulder, "But I believe they are alright and helping each other along the way."

Naruto stared into the abyss for a second, and then his shoulders trembled in a slight laughter.

"Well, I can imagine that!" he chuckled, "They are probably killing each other with their preferences!"

"I'd rather say they are killing the snow-country's villagers with their preferences," smiled Sasuke, happy that his friend didn't remind him about their previous quarrel.

"Hey, teme," Naruto turned his head to Sasuke and almost made their noses meet, because he didn't realize they were so close to each other on that cliff.

"What is it, dobe?" muttered Sasuke, staring at his friend's suddenly imminent face.

"Do you want to… well," Naruto coughed, turning his head to the side, "want to spar?"

"Sure," Sasuke nodded and laid his head on Naruto's shoulder.

"Really?" asked Naruto, his voice inspired, and squinted at his friend's head, so comfortable on his shoulder.

"Ah-ha," Sasuke hummed, without making any effort to go away.

"Fine, teme," murmured Naruto, afraid to move and break the moment. There were no intentions to rub his skin and he decided he was fine indeed now.

"Hn, you are such a dobe," whispered Sasuke.

He couldn't read the minds, right? Right?!


	6. Chapter 6

:6:

Genma turned the head to face his companion, who walked near him.

"Hey, Rai, what do you…" he started to talk, but choked when a sharp elbow met his stomach.

"Don't call me that!" Raido hissed, immediately stopping and gripping his hand full of Genma's shirt to drawl the man to his blushed face, "I hate when you shorten my name!"

"Calm down, man!" whined Genma, struggling to break free.

"No, just imagine," Raido brought Genma's face even closer to his own, ignoring the weak wiggle-waggles, "You are calling me Rai," he winced, "I'll call you Gen, then if all our friends call each other short – well, let's see," he speculated for a while, demonstratively rolling his eyes and still ignoring Genma's movements and protests, "Kot, Hay, Ank, Yam, Kak, that sounds great, doesn't it?, Kur, Iru, oh – this one sounds rather girly…"

"Let me go!" Genma shouted and darted with all strength he had in him. There was a sound of ripping material; he fell to the ground and hit his sorrowful ass painfully, "Fuck, it hurts! What's up with you?"

Raido grinned. A view of the shocked Genma on the ground was a rather rare occasion! Forcefully, he transformed his grin into a kind smile and stretched a hand to help, but Genma pushed that hand away and stood up all by himself.

"Raido, I asked you a question!"

"Sorry, Gen, the mission I accomplished in the morning made me… high-strung," Raido shrugged and tried to catch Genma's palm, but the man dodged his spurt.

"You! You called me 'Gen' just now!" cried Genma, pointing his finger at a confused Raido, "You call me names without even noticing it!"

"Do I?" Raido sighed and rubbed his temples. He desired to rage again, but did his best to suppress an urge, "Okay, what are these names I called you without even noticing?"

Genma froze and lowered his eyes.

"Well, you called me 'Gen' a moment ago…"

"Yes, I admit it, may be I did. What else?" wondered Raido; somehow he was convinced there were no other names... He was wrong.

"Ah… you called me 'jerk' a week ago…" said Genma in a weak voice, "and you called me 'fop'…"

"I remember," pointed Raido, interrupting his mumbling, "I also called you a 'slut' a week ago and you totally deserved it!"

"Oh really? Did I? And you called me 'pig', and 'freak', and 'bitch' and…" Genma started to shout.

"Genma, stop!" pleaded Raido – he was already fed up. He couldn't get a clue why his companion bothered to remember such details.

"You asked for it, so listen now!" Genma yelled even louder, "You called me a 'log'! Was I ever like that? And… well… 'sweetie', and 'sugar', and 'babe', and 'precious', and 'hotty', and 'darling', and…"

That was more than enough, decided Raido: he knew Genma was going to continue it for hours, so he darted forwards, before the man could start to announce something really embarrassing. In a second Genma was caught and pressed with his back to the tree, Raido's leg firmly between his thighs and Raido's lips right in front of his.

"…and 'sucker', and…" Genma breathed out straight into those familiar lips.

"And the sucker you are indeed," exhaled Raido, pulling a senbon out of Genma's mouth and throwing it away, "Aren't you, honey?"

"Yes?" murmured Genma, focusing his eyes on the movements of Raido's lips.

"What was it you wanted to ask me before we got into this silly fight, cutie?" wondered Raido, drawling the words and watching his companion look at him hungrily. He was sure – before answering his question Genma would lick the lips, which was a sign that he foretasted a contact.

Genma did. Then he chewed the lower lip, as if hesitating. Constrainedly, he detached his gaze from Raido's mouth – Raido wouldn't think of running away, would he? To be sure, Genma grabbed the material of the man's vest. Then he smirked and simply nodded in the direction of the huge rock with a notable cliff.

"Those two there. How would you call them? Nar and Sas? What do you think they are doing?"

Raido squinted at the cliff without weakening his grip on Genma. There were two boys, sitting on the edge. One of them was Naruto, with his bright blond hair, and the second one must be the youngest Uchiha.

"Well, resting may be?" muttered Raido, a little bit confused, because of the Uchiha's head reposed on Naruto's shoulder. It was unusual that the independent and self-contained boy was so trustful around his teammate.

"So it's called 'resting' now, mmm?" Genma whispered, slowly tracing Raido's jaw with his nose, "You are unshaved and smell like a homeless…"

"Sorry," Raido was still distracted by the strange view, "I came from a mission just several hours ago and had no chance to refresh."

"I noticed that. I missed you, and I don't complain," Genma entwined his hands around Raido's waist and continued to nuzzle his cheek, "Recently, there are a couple of pretty weird relationships here in our village…"

"What do you mean?" Raido frowned and turned his face back to Genma, making the man pout at the lack of contact.

"Those two boys, and both their teachers too – rather unhealthy relationships the people would say…" Genma traced his lips with his tongue demonstratively, moistening them. He knew he was watched.

Raido inhaled and held his breath, observing Genma's provocative action and gaining a slight tremble run through his whole body.

"I heard nothing about it, "he smiled, pressing harder into the other man's frame, "Are there any hints concerning our relationship?"

"Our relationship?" wondered Genma. He tilted his head back and rested the nape on the trunk of the tree, observing his partner through half-lidded eyes, "I find our relationship perfectly pure."

"'Pure' is a nice word, foxy," Raido nodded and traced Genma's exposed neck with the tip of his finger. The finger went slowly up and stopped near the corner of the lips, which were most of the time busy with a sharp needle.

"You know what?" Genma pouted, "I start to miss my senbon."

Raido smirked at him.

"I think I have something better for your mouth to substitute that bloody senbon."

"Is it hard enough to satisfy my needs?" Genma raised his brows as if he was insecure of that fact. He wasn't though – he waited for it whole day long!

Raido chuckled.

"After the tone you used while saying the word 'pure', it became perfectly hard!"

:+:

Iruka stood in front of the toilet mirror and held his trembling hands under the hot water. The first part of the session was over and they had a pause. That was good. And bad was that the next period consisted of only one speech and this speech happened to be his speech. Iruka shuddered – he wasn't sure he would manage it in such a state: he was cold and he was panicking. He thought once he reaches the shelter – just any village, any building – everything will be alright, it will be nice and warm again. But the conference hall, where the main part of the session took place, was a huge room, bright and wide and catastrophically cold. Yes, it was the place to welcome all participants and it had to be huge! Still why was it so damn cold? There were several tiny radiators, but they were not enough and Iruka couldn't concentrate on what the people on the stage talked about, he only felt the iciness starting to dominate him.

The teacher rubbed his already red hands under the hot water jet and sighed. He squinted to the left - there was a sound of flushing water and the silver-haired jounin came out of the cabin.

Kakashi headed straight to the teacher and pressed him into the sink, spreading the hands on both his sides to reach the tap and wash them.

"Hatake-san," hissed Iruka angrily, "there is plenty of other sinks near!" He fought for the place under the precious hot water jet with the jounin's insistent palms until his hands were caught.

"You'll ruin your skin!" muttered Kakashi, drawling the teacher from the sink. Iruka growled stubbornly, fighting to break Kakashi's embrace.

"Hush!" Kakashi laughed quietly into Iruka's ear, "Let me warm you, you need it again!"

Iruka stopped his fidgeting and relaxed his back against the jounin's chest. Kakashi was warm and held him tight, he should think about it before starting to object! But he couldn't get used to this situation so far. He was always independent and never had to rely on someone else. Being under the jounin's care was nice of course, but it nerved Iruka too.

"I'm sorry to be such a burden," the teacher mumbled, sending a guilty look to the jounin through the mirror, "I'd like to do something for you to compensate…"

"Please, Iruka-sensei," Kakashi caught that guilty look in reflection and slightly squeezed the teacher in his arms, "You already owe me one wish for being naughty and prying about my face, don't make it even more complicated for yourself. I feel uneasy when I think that I can get anything from you now when you are so defenseless."

"Who could ever guess you are so noble, Hatake-san," Iruka tacitly smiled at the jounin, enjoying his warmth, "Thank you for that."

Kakashi smiled back at the teacher sheepishly and squeezed him again. A reply was whispered into Iruka's ear, sending the shivers down his spine.

"Don't you think it's a little bit early to thank me, Iruka-sensei?" wondered Kakashi, "You are still in my arms and you know there are several dangerous rumors about how perverted I can be."

Iruka gulped. Sure, he had heard those rumors. They were nasty enough to make his cheeks burn just after the mere remembrance. The jounin was right – it was too early to relax. But the warmth and attention were so soothing! He didn't care and only shrugged in return.

That was when the door of the toilet burst wide open and one of the clerks came in.

"Oh, here you are!" the clerk breathed out, definitely relieved, "I was looking for you everywhere, please come to the stage – we already have everyone in their places, waiting."

"We are coming," nodded Kakashi.

Iruka turned his head to look at the jounin.

"I'm not sure how long I'll be able to talk in that charnel," he whispered, "I'm afraid I'll do something stupid."

Kakashi loosened his embrace around the teacher and pushed him forwards to follow the clerk.

"Don't worry, just make the speech. I'm here to support you and that's what I'm going to do."

"What can you do?" asked Iruka angrily, heading to the door and shuddering, this time because of the lack of that wonderful warmth he was surrounded by only a second ago.

Kakashi kept silent while they walked along the corridor.

"I'll use a warming jutsu on you if I'll notice you feel bad. So - don't freak out on the sudden chakra sensations," he said finally.

Iruka frowned at his hesitant holdback.

"Is it very complicated?"

"No, it only requires a lot of energy, especially when there is no physical contact," Kakashi shrugged and opened the door in front of the teacher. The conference hall was full.

"I'm so sorry I cause so much trouble for y…" mumbled Iruka, not willing to enter the hall and wishing he was somewhere else.

"Oh, please, shut up and do the speech, Iruka-sensei!" Kakashi employed his professional lazy voice and pushed the teacher towards the podium.

Iruka smirked at that reciprocal joke and sent the jounin a sarcastic glance over his shoulder. He inhaled and made the first step to the stage. May be it seemed impossible – to simultaneously shut up and do the speech, but for the sake of his village he was going to use all his skills.

:+:

Iruka's speech went well at first: he knew what he was talking about and he was persuasive enough to gain everybody's attention. But soon enough he started to feel coldness around him and, as it became worse and worse, the speech transformed into the nervous barking.

"You think Hidden Leaf's shinobi are the simple-minded killing machines?" cried Iruka, "You think we make our children train for the sake of our own splurge and reputation? I say you are wrong! There is something precious we have to protect and what each of us cares about! It's our village and its citizens, our families and friends. For their comfort we have to be strong and rude!" Oh how mad he was! He had to show those sated fools a real meaning of life, which, he knew, truly existed and wasn't money or politic games.

Suddenly, still highly raged and totally lost in his sermon, Iruka sensed an accurate tickling all over his skin – stimulating and encouraging. He turned his face to his one and only attendant and caught the silver-haired jounin's wink. A warming jutsu, wasn't it? Iruka felt much better now! And he continued the speech in a confident calm tone, doing his best to fix the almost ruined impression.

"To be sure our beloved ones are safe," A last wave of tickling went down Iruka's spine and he squinted at Kakashi with a wide thankful smile, "we have to be ready for everything. And there are several options, which can be useful as the examples of the tactics we choose. I want to perform them to you today…"

The rest of the speech went pretty well too, but there were several repercussions caused by Iruka's freak out.

First of all, Kakashi used the jutsu in the conference hall, and, as far as more than a half of the participants were skillful enough to feel it, everybody was alerted. Also, the gazes and smiles between the two Hidden Leaf shinobi made a lot of people suspect something queer. That's why, finally, almost all the session's participants stared at Iruka's ass, instead of watching informative diagrams the teacher drew on the board…

Iruka sighed. They decided he'll be here in the conference hall and wait for Kakashi to return after a little reconnaissance. But Iruka already started to regret he agreed, because…

At this moment his thoughts were roughly interrupted.

"Your speech was great, pretty!"

The teacher turned around and saw the man he met before the session started – the one who seemed to know Kakashi.

"Glad you liked it," he replied distantly. He wasn't satisfied with what he did on the stage. He almost ruined everything! If not his silver-haired attendant, it could be a total failure.

Iruka tried to smile at the man, but he couldn't. The coldness of the snow country had crawled under his clothes and entwined around him, making him repeatedly shake. And where was Kakashi when Iruka needed him again?!

The teacher's eyes slid down the stranger's frame. The man was so near – Iruka could reach him with his hand. Could it be he was warm too? He had to be warm, he wasn't trembling and his skin wasn't bluish. And those hands seemed very reliable – surely they could hold him tight and make him feel better. At least he had to try, he was at his limits!

Iruka took a step forward and laid his cold palm on the man's shoulder. Oh yes, he was warm! Iruka licked his lips and made another step to the man, with the intention to drag him into a hug. He almost reached what he desired, but at the very last moment the man, as if unfrozen, had recoiled, his face pale and frightened. Iruka frowned and took another step to the source of the heat, stretching his hands and deciding he'll catch that man and make him share the warmth! At least he came here, into this now empty and shadowed hall of his own will, Iruka didn't ask for a company!

"Umino Iruka!" The voice was low and firm, with some hints of definite dangerous warning; it made Iruka start and turn his head to the door, "What do you think you are doing?" asked Kakashi, coming closer.

"That's not your business, Hatake-san!" declared Iruka, annoyed, and turned back to the source of the heat he almost reached. But the man was already near the door.

"Gosh, Kakashi! I could never imagine I'd be so happy to see you again!" he exhaled and disappeared around the corner.

Iruka grit his teeth and continued to shudder. First the jounin wasn't there when he needed him, and then he came in at the most inopportune moment!

"What's wrong with him?" the teacher hissed. He watched Kakashi coming closer and already planned to jump him as soon as possible. He wanted his warmth, damn it!

"He reads too many books," Kakashi chuckled. He stopped and let Iruka reach him to hungrily entwine icy hands around the heated body.

"Too many books?" Iruka murmured and pressed his cold nose into the curve of Kakashi's neck. That felt good! "Just like you?"

"Oh no! Not like me! My books are rather… entertaining," answered Kakashi. He hesitated – may be he should lay both his hands on the teacher's lower back. What if it was ice cold too and needed to be warmed? "The books he prefers are rather frightening and hair-raising."

Iruka looked at the jounin's silver hair.

"I see," he awed, "and you've read some too. It definitely influenced your hair."

Kakashi chuckled again – once the teacher gained enough warmth, he began to play a smartass and started to be very annoying.

"Next time you meet him," whispered Kakashi into Iruka's ear, "please bother to henge your eyes red."

Iruka squinted at the jounin, suspecting there was something naughty in his wish.

"I'll think about it," he promised.

"Great!" Kakashi declared and pushed the teacher away from him, "Now let's go and find us a nice place to sleep," he announced.

Iruka nodded and hurriedly started to gather his papers from the table. He had to prepare for the next session and wanted to do it while wrapped in a warm blanket.


	7. Chapter 7

:7:

Nothing was wrong, nothing. But what can make the one lose control faster than a line to the registration desk?

The line consisted of only eight people and half of them were from behind, but Iruka was already mad. Surprisingly, the main reason of madness wasn't the coldness; it was the girl at the registration desk. Iruka watched her intensely for a while: she happened to be impolite, rude, talked edgy and seemingly enjoyed her position of a dominating bitch.

Then a sharp elbow tenderly met Iruka's ribs and startled him.

"This girly reminds me of someone," whispered the nearest silver-haired jounin into Iruka's ear.

"Whom exactly?" Iruka frowned, "In my opinion such supercilious people must be fired in an instant!"

"She reminds me of one presumptuous man from our village's mission room," the jounin was impudent enough to wink at him, "you know him better than anyone else."

"Really? Who could that be?" Iruka wondered, squinting at the jounin suspiciously. He was sure Kakashi smirked under his mask, so the statement must be provocative.

"Let me describe him for you," started Kakashi slowly, "he has long brown hair, which he always wears in a high pony-tail; his skin is permanently tanned – it's very intriguing, still, I don't know why, yet; he is usually nice and polite to everyone, but once he comes to the mission room and takes his place at the receiving table he transforms into a cynical hellcat, who thinks he is all-mighty and uses his position to moralize…"

"Shut up!" Iruka hissed, closing his eyes and standing there pouting for a while. The jounin behaved well and said nothing too. Iruka was a smart teacher – he got the message and realized the story described personally him at work, but he never thought he looked as bitchy as that. And also… "Hellcat you say?" murmured Iruka finally, squinting at the jounin again.

Kakashi coughed, and cast his one visible eye down.

"That, or something similar," he mumbled, "He becomes a very dangerous beast if you mock him."

"How dangerous?" Iruka wondered, debating with his inner-self if he was angry or flattered. He didn't want to do something stupid again; his first intention was to either accidentally stand on the man's foot or punch him directly in his right side. Iruka was hesitating, only because he didn't know what the people around them would think when he starts a fight with his fellow villager.

"Dangerous enough to make a man's life difficult," answered Kakashi as they approached the registration desk.

The girl raised her head and gave them an appraising glance. Her gaze stopped on the silver-haired jounin's mask for a long moment, and Iruka narrowed his eyes at her. He definitely didn't like that girl.

"Your origin and names, please…" muttered the girl, lowering her eyes to the register-book.

"Hello, first of all," said the teacher challengingly. The girl ignored him, and it was the worst choice of all. Iruka blushed and clenched his fists. Kakashi recognized the threat and hurried to tell their names before it was too late.

"Hidden Leaf village. Umino Iruka here," The jounin pointed his finger at the angry teacher, "is a participant, and I am Hatake Kakashi, an attendant."

They waited and waited; the girl sorted and rearranged her papers. Then, finally, she addressed the jounin, completely ignoring the other man.

"The participant gets a room on the level 6, where all session's participants live. You can get a room at any level higher than the level 7, it's of your choice," she declared and smiled at Kakashi. Iruka was stunned at first, and then, exhaled loudly. Kakashi put a hand on his shoulder to sooth him, but it was in vain.

"No way!" Iruka cried and pushed the jounin's palm off, "I'm not going to live on the level 6!" he added, swallowing the word 'alone', which was the most important in his case. What if they had no radiators there?

"It's not for your decision, we have our rules," pointed the girl sarcastically, still looking at Kakashi, "If you decide to break the rules, our leaders could think you don't trust us."

The jounin shook his head and smiled at her sheepishly, making Iruka even angrier.

"We have a special occasion, can you give us a twin room please?" asked Kakashi politely. He didn't know what to do; two people with a common furious temper confronting each other seemed too much for him. And to make the leaders of the snow country doubt the hidden leaf village's loyalty was unacceptable. He'd gladly take a death-fight instead of this situation.

"No," said the girl, returning to her papers, "You can take the rooms, which were arranged for you, or simply leave, there is a line here and I have no time to chat," With a loud clang she laid two keys on the table top.

"We are going to live together anyway," Iruka suddenly hissed and grabbed the nearest key.

"Then, you don't need the second room," replied the girl and withdrew the other key from the table top so fast, even Kakashi couldn't manage to react fast enough to pull it away, "And, I'll report that you refuse to follow the rules."

Kakashi rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Look, it is not because we don't trust you," he said politely.

Iruka squinted at Kakashi with a hint of fright, and a hint of hope. He understood he became a reason of big trouble and didn't know what to do.

Already realizing he'd need to give an explanation, Kakashi fussily searched for a suitable solution. In a second, his face gained his usual lazy look, and he hummed.

"So why is it then?" asked the girl after the impressive pause.

Bored eyes of the people present in the room dug into the figures of the two men in front of the registration desk. With the amazed expressions on their faces, they watched the silver-haired jounin step closer to the teacher and entwine his arm around the teacher's waist, just to make the man squeak and lean into his side.

"It is because we are lovers," declared Kakashi firmly. He didn't wait for a reply or any other reaction on that statement. He only tightened his grip around Iruka and somehow managed to tug the stunned teacher out of the registration room, before they could be asked for evidentiary material.

:+:

"Are you insane?" cried Kakashi. They were in the empty corridor now, so he had the opportunity to press the teacher into the nearest wall without being watched.

Trembling, Iruka stared at the jounin's masked face in front of his. He wondered if anyone else ever saw that lazy pervert so mad.

"No?" muttered Iruka, uncertain and a little bit scared.

"What is happening with you? I don't recognize you, sensei! We are in an alien country and your behavior is inconceivable!"

"You were told I'm unstable, weren't you?" cried Iruka in return. Though, it was inconceivable indeed. He had to calm down. "I don't know – I just can't control emotions and reflexes. I'm tired of this place, it's so unnerving!"

"It is our first day here, and you are already tired?" hissed Kakashi, stepping back and leaving the teacher free.

"I want to go home," whined Iruka. He slid down to the floor and pulled his knees to his chest, "…cold for so long, let's just go home... Please…"

Another hysteric of the teacher – Kakashi snorted. His task turned out to be more surprising than he could ever expect; he was not an attendant, but a nurse. He kneeled near Iruka to allow him to nest in his arms and waited until the man came to his senses.

To be pressed into that warm body was everything Iruka needed; he rubbed his frozen nose against the jounin's vest and sighed. He must never loose control, but he had failed so many times already. That was catastrophic. Hokage made a big mistake when she sent him here, he felt so worthless.

"Hatake-san, I'm sorry I'm ruining our mission," the teacher muttered to Kakashi's chest.

Kakashi snorted again. He felt thrilled now, and it was definitely because of the lie he was forced to tell in the registration room. Iruka didn't get the idea yet – Kakashi had to explain him what they put themselves into and find out the most convenient strategy to not be caught in a fabrication.

"You can't use the honorific when addressing me anymore, Iruka-sensei. From now on you shall call me 'Kakashi,' and I will call you 'Iruka'."

Iruka's eyes widened, and he raised his face to look at the jounin.

"Really, Hatake-san?" he wondered.

"It's Kakashi," corrected the jounin. He watched the teacher's face gain an expression of great agitation.

"Why, Hata…" the teacher winced, "Why is it so now, Kakashi?"

"It's because I declared us as lovers five minutes ago. Lovers do not use the honorifics when they address each other, so please behave accordingly," Kakashi removed the naughty hair strands, which partly blocked Iruka's vision and smiled at him, "We didn't ruin the mission, yet. Let's try our best to continue accomplishing it, okay?"

Iruka sobbed and nodded several times, hiding his face in the warm chest of the jounin. He was ready to try his best and accomplish the mission. They just had to look like the good lovers so far.

"Kakashi…" started Iruka and suddenly stopped. He realized he didn't know how exactly the good lovers act.

"Yes?" murmured Kakashi. He sensed that the teacher's body was through with trembling, which was perfect – they had to leave the corridor as soon as possible, before some random person could bump into them.

"How do the lovers usually behave when in public?" asked Iruka.

"It depends on their character," Kakashi chuckled," Some of them like to wear a ring as a sign they are not vacant, some lovers like to show their attraction and grab each other's private parts, some…"

"Wait," Iruka tugged the jounin's vest to stop his speculations, "I don't need the whole theory, I'm aware of it perfectly well. Can you indicate exactly our case, please?"

There! The annoying teacher was back again. Kakashi hummed and straightened in one graceful movement, pulling Iruka up with him. They needed to find their room, so he entwined an arm around the teacher's waist and tugged him to the stairs.

"First of all we shall call each other by the name, what shows that we know each other closely; additionally we have to get used to…" Kakashi paused; where exactly were they heading? "And on which floor is our room, now?"

Iruka freed one hand from the underneath of the jounin's shirt, where it was so nice and warm, and pulled the key out of his pocket. He showed Kakashi the label on the key; it said the room was on the level 19.

"I told you that girl is a spoiled bitch," muttered Iruka, "it must be the very last floor in the whole building!"

Kakashi chuckled. Considering the mention of the spoiled bitch – he remembered so well the hundreds of times this teacher made him rewrite his awful reports. That was why the fact of exceeding the limits of authority by the clerks wasn't a big surprise for him.

"You can share your observations with her later," pointed Kakashi.

"After a hot shower, and some sleep in a warm bed!" Iruka agreed, and in his turn tugged the jounin up the stairs to get to the room as soon as possible.

:+:

From the corner of his eye, Sasuke watched the two shinobi below making out and lazily mused if Naruto was going to notice them any time soon or not. It seemed to him his friend froze and was afraid even to breathe – as if turned into the perfect pillow. The tired Sasuke already started to lull away, when the comfortable shoulder suddenly darted and he fell down to the hard ground.

"Doooooobe!" Sasuke drawled angrily. When he raised his head from the dirty dust and concentrated his gaze on his weird friend, Naruto stood at the cliff's very edge, his body tensed, and stared at something beneath. Sasuke decided he knew exactly what, or better to say – who, was there.

"Look, it is a fight!" cried Naruto, turning around, fast like a hurricane.

"Hn, a fight!" Sasuke managed to sarcastically grunt, but in a less than a second, he was already being roughly dragged down the hill, "Stop! You, insane monster!" Sasuke hissed and darted furiously in an effort to escape from the grip. The only thing he achieved was both of them to stumble and half-roll, half-slide the rest of the way to the piedmont, mostly on their asses. Sasuke's head spun for a while, but he gritted his teeth and survived the dizziness. Then, he opened his mouth to shout at Naruto with all the strength his lungs possessed, but was immediately caught by his collar and silenced by his friend's palm. Sasuke's head was directed to the side and he saw it – two fully dressed men in ninja uniform were weltering in the red and yellow leafs, their crotches separating, connecting, and rubbing against each other, and their mouths panting into each other. The moans they made left no doubt the excitement was reaching the pique.

Sasuke smirked into the palm that silenced him and squinted at Naruto. The sight was worthy of the scratches and dirt. Naruto stared at the action in front of him, and his eyes almost popped out. The boy's arms weakened their grip on Sasuke, and it was Sasuke's turn to hold him firmly and gag him. Otherwise, there could be a big possibility Naruto would freak out and spoil the show, not to mention they would be caught on peeking.

The show was rather entertaining, as was the dialog, the words barely recognizable between the groans of appreciative enjoyment.

"If you won't teleport us home, I'll take you right here and right now and don't you dare to complain that your ass is all in fir-needles, like a little cute hedgehog," murmured the man, who was dominating and stood on his all fours above the other one, simultaneously pinning him to the ground with his hands. Sasuke identified him – it was Raido, "Oh, darling, I think I'd like your ass even if it transforms into that!"

"I'll remember it before shaving my lower part next time and we'll see…" answered the bottoming man, who turned out to be Genma.

"Are you trying to put me down? It won't work; no matter what ploys you use, I'll get into your precious hole and make a nice mess there…"

Naruto tried to move and bleat into Sasuke's palm, so he tightened the grip, just because they had to be silent for the sake of not being found. Not that Sasuke thought one of two excited men could notice them in their obsessive state. On the other hand – you can await every single trick when shinobi are involved.

The next growl of Genma made Sasuke freeze and bite his lip, the man was on his limits of self-control!

"Damn it, take me already! I can't teleport us home when you are blocking my wrists above my head!" The phrase wasn't even complete when they were gone, leaving only the hints of fading smoke.

Naruto broke free and crawled away from Sasuke. He pointed his finger at the place where the two men had interacted.

"W-what w-was t-that?" he asked, stuttering on each word.

"That, dobe, was the beginning of good old sex," pointed Sasuke. He stood up and held out his hand to help Naruto to his feet, "I remember you suggested a sparring. Shall we?"

Naruto raised the shocked blue eyes to his scratched, and covered in dust, but somehow very positive, and not at all mad at him, friend and nodded.

"Right, teme, let's do it!"


	8. Chapter 8

:8:

The deep sound of a humiliating slap in the face disturbed the silence, and some birds flew up from the nearest tree's lower branch.

"Fight me!" Sasuke gave Naruto another slap and jumped away, letting his friend fall to the ground of the training field, "Fight! Why are you not fighting? You are barely dodging!"

Naruto started to rise on his arms, but then his mind changed; he fell back to the ground and simply rolled over on his back. He laid there and stared at the clear blue sky with an expression of profound reverie glued to his face.

"Naruto, what's up?" asked Sasuke, taking a seat next to the Naruto's beaten body, "Tell me."

Naruto chewed his lower lip for a long moment.

"I was thinking about the two shinobi in the forest, who were making out…" he drawled, continuing to stare into the air.

Sasuke squinted at his friend with a fright. Naruto was dangerous when he was thinking so hard; he had a manner to come to very strange conclusions during that unsteady and illogical process.

"We shouldn't have seen them; they have probably dropped all vigilance because of bare lust. That was an example of unacceptable behavior, a good lesson to learn and remember – shinobi must never loose their minds," Sasuke muttered, still not quite getting the clue of Naruto's stargazing.

"Those two men were kissing each other. You know, I've kissed several men before," At this point Sasuke's eyes widened, "I kissed Sandaime, and I kiss Iruka-sensei a lot…"

"A lot?" asked Sasuke. Of course he saw Naruto nuzzling Iruka-sensei's cheeks, and it was perfectly normal. There was no kid in their village who didn't, and Sasuke was no exception too, although he would never accept it. Be that as it may, but he frowned at his friend's straightforwardness. He felt uneasy. Still, Naruto didn't pay attention to his concern and continued his vivid speculations.

"…and I kissed you once, you remember – it was just an incident! I never imagined two men could actually kiss each other and enjoy it like these two did..."

Now Sasuke sat there stunned, his back straight, and his face inscrutable, somehow understanding pretty well where it was going. He listened to Naruto and felt like all the hair on his body was slowly raising on their ends.

"…I know you saw it too – they fed each other with their tongues and did other kinds of such stuff! The way a man would do to a woman, but not to another man!"

"What is the use of you telling me all this?" wondered Sasuke. The situation was rapidly spinning out of control, he knew it, but couldn't think of an argument solid enough for Naruto to stop the stupid talk. With Naruto in an enthusiastic state it was probably impossible.

"Teme! I want to give it a try too! And you suit to help me."

Keeping his eyes on Naruto, Sasuke started to stand up, and did so very slowly and carefully to avoid any possible provocation.

"Is it simply because you want to try everything?" he asked.

He waited until Naruto gave him a significant nod. The bright blue eyes were concentrated on Sasuke now, and there was nothing but an overt interest in them, indeed. Sasuke sighed angrily; his idiot friend must be a complete moron, if he was so dimwitted!

"First, you stress me because of the weak mention I can touch your skin, and now you want me to kiss you; a full mouth sloppy kiss with tongues and saliva exchange?"

Naruto's face brightened.

"Exactly that!" he cried and jumped to his feet to be nose to nose with Sasuke, "C'mon, let's do it the way they did! It must feel really awesome!"

"No!" shouted Sasuke. He took a step back, then another one. After the third step he turned around and ran.

"Coward!" Naruto's voice reached him almost physically and hit into his rear, "You are afraid!"

Sasuke shuddered and kept running away without looking back. He was afraid, yes. But it was not the experience itself, he was afraid of. He was only afraid he'd like it. And he was afraid he'd want more.

"Fuck you, teme! I'll go and ask Kiba then!"

"Dobe," Sasuke muttered; he wasn't even noticing the thin sprigs, which lashed against his already red cheeks.

:+:

"Are you done?" Iruka asked in a very annoyed voice.

Kakashi raised his silver-haired head from the plate he was currently licking and stared at him in all the splendor of his unmasked and very surprised face with the pieces of food stuck to his cheeks. Iruka blinked. It was good that Kakashi wore a mask when outside. Who could be afraid of a jounin with such an expressive face? Kakashi's childish look and childish behavior during the time they were alone, and he felt comfortable enough to remove his mask, reminded Iruka of his students and his heart started to melt like the snow under the sun in spring… He fought hard to maintain sanity.

The teacher stood up and put his empty bowl on the table so that it made a loud thud. He took two angry steps towards the jounin just to pull his mask back to its usual place and cover the slightly pouting lips. These, just a moment ago glistering after the fatty food, lips were stretching into a breathtaking smile every time Kakashi addressed him. And somehow these were the lips Iruka couldn't stop staring at. He kept failing and didn't know how to help it. That was the reason why he decided to stay away from the silver-haired man, as far as possible and as long as possible. A rather difficult task during the joint mission in the Snow country, but Iruka wouldn't be Iruka if he didn't give it at least a try.

"Either you go and wash your face, or keep your stained cheeks covered!" barked Iruka. After that, he reached for the armchair's cushion and quickly plucked it from under Kakashi's back.

The action was unexpected and Kakashi coughed and had to several times beat himself in the chest to let the food come down his throat in peace. Inhaling deeply, he took the mask off again and watched Iruka go to the window with the cushion dearly pressed to his stomach. Everything was fine just a couple of minutes ago and Kakashi was hurriedly trying to figure out the cause of the performance and the possible further scenario. Surely, he had known for a long time already that Iruka was unpredictable in his decisions, but he never guessed the teacher could make him so greatly surprised three times in one day.

On his way to the window Iruka dragged a coverlet from the bed. Then he threw the cushion on the floor right under the window and near the radiator. Fully dressed, he curled up on the square cushion so that his body wouldn't touch the cold floor, covered himself with the coverlet and snuggled to the radiator.

Kakashi swallowed and stared at the resulting Iruka-snail. The man fidgeted a little, making his position comfortable, and finally hid his head under the blanket.

Giving the plate the last regretful lick, Kakashi narrowed his eyes. He put the plate at the table and came closer to the window. It didn't escape him that with every step he took, Iruka's curled up body tensed and shrunk even further into the ball.

"Iruka, hey," Kakashi squatted near the man and gave the teacher's shoulder a small caress with his finger, "Come into the bed. It will be a lot warmer there."

"I'd better be here; I don't want to bother you, really, Hatake-san."

Kakashi frowned at the honorific and quickly searched through the bullshit he could offend Iruka by in the last two hours. Everything seemed smooth to him.

"Iruka, we decided we'd call each other by the name," he reminded to the teacher.

Iruka wiggled uncomfortably.

"We decided we'll do it when in public," he muttered, "Please leave me alone."

"I can't leave you alone, I'm ordered to take care of you! And what do I report to Hokage if you get ill because you voluntarily wallowed on the cold floor?"

"That is not your problem, Hatake-san. I'm near the nice hot radiator and I can manage the coldness very well here. If something happens, it will be entirely my fault, because I'm an adult man and I take care of myself!"

"Fine!" cried Kakashi angrily, raising back to his feet, "But when you come to me later, all cold and trembling, don't suppose I'll make it easy for you!"

"I'm fine with my radiator, thank you very much" muttered Iruka from somewhere under the blanket.

Kakashi grit his teeth and turned around. He wasn't a cruel man, but he had already enough nursing for the entire year!

"Sleep well, Iruka-sensei," he whispered, heading to the bathroom to wash his dirty face and prepare for the night, "We'll see who laughs last!"

:+:

For the longest time Kakashi remained awake, watching the curled up teacher on the floor. He couldn't get to sleep. He even started to count the metaphorical flying shuriken to lull himself, but it didn't help. Finally, he decided to think about the reason of Iruka's freaking out. That was so tiring he didn't notice he fell asleep…

Then, all of sudden, he realized someone was standing over him, silently. Inwardly shuddering and not showing by any sign that he was awake, Kakashi stretched his hand to reach the nearest hidden kunai. They, who threatened him didn't try to do something, just stood there and even designated themselves by giving out several slight sobs.

Kakashi frowned at the familiar sound and opened his eyes. In the dim dusk of the night he saw the shivering Iruka, wrapped in the coverlet. Kakashi sat up in the bed and observed him, keeping silence.

"T-they t-turned t-the r-r-r-radiator off-f-f," Iruka could not stop his teeth from chattering.

"Very wise of them," muttered Kakashi, "Who needs the heaters when everybody lays deep asleep in their comfortable beds under the warm blankets?"

They stood quiet for a minute, and then Iruka sobbed again.

"I n-n-need a h-heat-t-ter," he whispered.

Kakashi said nothing and didn't move a muscle, continuing to observe his trembles. He waited for an apology, an excuse, anything from Iruka to confirm he was sorry he behaved rude and unreasonable. Kakashi had to know better – Iruka was too stubborn. The teacher turned around and shambled back to the cushion under the window. Sitting there he continued to tremble and sob, hoping in just several short hours the radiator will be turned on again.

With a deep growl, Kakashi pushed the blanket away, stood up and headed to the window. He kneeled in front of the sobbing man in all the naked glory of his underwear and tugged the coverlet from his shoulders.

"What are you d-doing?" Iruka wiggled, trying to return the coverlet and wrap it around his body again, "Don't t-touch me!"

Kakashi chuckled, fighting Iruka's trembling hands and managed to catch and block teacher's both wrists with just one hand. With the other hand, he continued his ministrations of unwrapping Iruka out of his clothes.

"I'm not taking you into the clean bed in all this dusty uniform, Iruka-sensei," declared Kakashi sarcastically, "And I'm not going to warm all your extra clothes, only your body. Now, be wise and help me to undress you."

Iruka nodded and his hands were freed. Starting to pull off the jersey, he felt the warm fingers on his skin and already unbuttoning his pants. He rose just a little and arched to help the silver-haired man with tugging them down.

Kakashi hummed and threw the pants away, together with the thick socks Iruka wore. Now Iruka was almost fully naked; all he still had on were the red, slinky shorts.

"How did you guess I like the color red?" wondered Kakashi hypothetically while carrying the frozen body to the bed. Iruka didn't pay attention to anything, he felt so cold he could only tremble, and he definitely couldn't stop his jaw rattling long enough to snap. Kakashi had to accept he liked it very much. He placed Iruka on the bed, laid down near him and dissolved his hair. After he covered them both with the blanket, he embraced the teacher carefully and buried his unmasked nose into the long brown locks. Tracing the curves of Iruka's body, Kakashi induced the little bits of chakra to return the man's blood circulation back to normal. Soon enough Iruka stopped his trembling and, with a relieved sigh, entwined his hands around the silver haired man's waist. Kakashi admitted he enjoyed that too. He ceased the chakra manipulations and deliberately rested one of his hands on Iruka's lower back, additionally speculating if there was a chance to squeeze it and remain alive. After a short hesitation he decided not to push his luck.

"I'm sorry I was bitchy," murmured Iruka suddenly. Pressing his forehead to Kakashi's he looked him into the mismatched eyes and smiled a tired, sleepy smile, "You are the best attendant ever, saving me again." And he planted a tender kiss on Kakashi's unmasked nose.

For the longest time Kakashi remained awake, enjoying the feel of the other man's naked and lithe body in his arms. Already half-asleep, he thought that pretending to be lovers with Iruka would be a great fun!


	9. Chapter 9

:9:

A sudden shudder went through Iruka's body, and he woke up; he must have seen something in his dream, only the memory escaped his mind. He felt arms tighten around his waist and squinted at the silver-haired man, who snuggled up to his side. Kakashi's face seemed serene and relaxed, his eyes closed; if Iruka wasn't a very skilled shinobi, he would believe his attendant was deeply asleep. Kakashi definitely pretended, but maybe he had his reasons.

Iruka sighed and made an effort to roll to the edge of the bed.

"No, it's too early," the sleepy voice murmured and Iruka was pressed even closer to the strong male's body.

"But, I need to use the restroom!" muttered Iruka, hints of a whine in his voice. His need was very urgent, so he made another attempt to break free.

There was a low growl, and the jounin loosened his grip around the teacher. Iruka jumped from under the blanket and immediately regretted it; the air was cold and it surrounded his skin as if trying to suck all the warmth out. Iruka squeaked and ran to the bathroom's door on his tip toes; his bare feet started to freeze every time he touched the ice-cold floor.

Kakashi watched him with a silly smile spread on his exposed face and was glad the man didn't notice his sneering expression. Iruka was very much distracted; he hurriedly scanned the floor, deciding where it would be more convenient to jump next for his feet to contact the chilled surface as little as possible. Spurred by the coldness, in just one short minute, Iruka managed to disappear in the bathroom, reappear again and reach the cushion near the radiator. He stepped on the cushion and accurately touched the radiator with his toe.

"Ouch!" he cried and stepped away immediately, "it's crazy hot!"

"C'mon," Kakashi folded the edge of the blanket in invitation, "I'm a lot better than that futile radiator!"

Iruka hummed, but didn't move, just entwined the arms around his slowly freezing body.

It made Kakashi sit up on the bed and frown.

"Iruka, what's wrong?" he asked, "Do you want me to hunt you every single time and carry you to the bed? I like role playing, but this turns out a little bit sick, doesn't it?"

Iruka shook his head and smiled at him. Then, he made two jumps and crawled back into bed.

"I thought I should already be up and do some morning exercises," he declared, entwining his chilled limbs around Kakashi's body and enjoying the precious warmth, "But, you win. This time, you and the blanket are more appealing than the radiator and morning exercises."

Kakashi snorted and started to caress Iruka's back, detaining his hand on the rear part after every long stroke, but barely touching it. He felt Iruka nuzzling his chest to warm his cold nose and had to admit he liked the tantalizing feeling the action caused.

"I could teach you several exercises two men are able to perform together in the morning, while in bed…" Kakashi murmured teasingly.

"Ah, it's barely sunrise, that's why I agree it's too early for morning exercises. We can sleep a little longer today," whispered Iruka. He felt comfortable and warm again and was quite happy with it.

"Definitely," smirked Kakashi, "But when we wake up you are to tell me what it was that made you stay with the radiator yesterday night. I want to know your reasons."

Iruka wiggled, totally fond of tender touches on his back. This unexpected gentleness of the silver-haired man was already too much for him. The change from annoying ass to caretaker was unbelievable. Iruka was sure there must be a trick! He was a vulnerable person, who cared about other's opinions and couldn't stop being quick to sympathize. So, he promised to himself he'll be alerted and won't let the man manipulate him. After coming to that assuasive decision Iruka shook his head and muttered something unintelligible, almost immediately sinking into a sleepy state.

Kakashi continued to caress his back, even after Iruka was deep asleep.

'I'm okay with you ignoring my disguised suggestions,' he thought, 'I won't respect you otherwise. Still, it's a pity I didn't get the fun of watching you blush this time.'

:+:

That day they had to attend a special training in the field. As Iruka got ready to be a representative and show some tricks, he was very attentive to take on the warmest clothes he had.

"So," drawled Kakashi. He was already waiting for the teacher and watched his coherent movements with amusement. There was something very reliable in them, something that made you confident and trustful, "I guess for the beginning we should behave just as we did yesterday. Maybe a little bit of jealousy from my side if you get a too much annoying audiences during this practice."

"What?" Iruka raised his head from the two almost identical pairs of socks he was currently comparing to decide which of them were worth wearing, "Why jealousy? Usually you show me only laziness or criticism."

"Since officially you are my lover now, I have a full right to be jealous of you, don't I?" Iruka shrugged and returned to staring at his socks. Kakashi grunted, "Wear the red ones," he bid.

Iruka took one red sock, looked at it, and winced.

"They are warmer, I presume, but this color doesn't fit my uniform!"

"But, I told you I like everything in red," Kakashi winked at the teacher, reminding him of the color of the underwear he had a chance to see yesterday. Iruka's cheeks turned as red as the socks in an instant, "And they fit perfectly with the color of your face."

Iruka grit his teeth and pulled the thinner dark blue socks on.

"Sorry, Hatake-san, but for me, the image of our village comes first, and always in front of fulfilling your perverted desires," he hoped he sounded sarcastic, not embarrassed.

Kakashi's visible eye widened in feigned surprise, just to mock the teacher. It became his favorite play, as well as the grabbing of this man's butt in every possible occasion. He supposed Iruka would interpret it just like a little pervert profit, not like an unhealthy affection or a weakness.

"Iruka-sensei, are you flirting with me now?"

"Me flirting with an attendant? Never!" muttered Iruka while adjusting his shoes.

Kakashi smirked under his mask.

"Then, with whom would you flirt?"

"It shouldn't be the point of your concern!" Iruka was ready now and stood in front of the silver-haired man, hands on his hips.

"But, it is," Kakashi shrugged.

Iruka's eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Wait, it's you who's flirting with me, isn't it so, Hatake-san?"

"And what if I am?" asked Kakashi bravely.

Iruka came closer to him and pushed him aside to go through the door.

"I'll consider it an unprofessional infirmity, while on a mission," he declared, heading to the staircase.

Kakashi closed the door and followed the teacher, rather confused about his words.

"You don't really mean it, do you? Because I remember very well that you enjoy me embracing you!"

"It's because I need it, not because I like it!" Iruka hissed, staring at the stairs under his feet and avoiding looking at Kakashi.

"Do you mean you would let any random person warm you? Is it the reason you almost jumped the unknown ninja yesterday?"

Iruka bit his lower lip and stopped.

"I don't want to be impolite, but I'd do anything for the sake of my village..."

"And what would you do for yourself?"

Iruka took a deep breath to stay calm.

"And for myself, I'd like to seal your mouth and then proceed to the training-field!"

"Wait," They were in a public place, so Kakashi stepped closer to the teacher and lowered his voice, "Are you proposing you want to seal my mouth with a kiss?"

Without an answer, Iruka clenched his fists in fury and continued his way down the stairs. How could that jounin suggest such a thing? How could he... Unintentionally, Iruka's mind gave out a picture of himself leaning to the silver-haired man's unmasked face and merging their lips together. It was almost impossible to imagine, but Iruka had a very vivid and quick imagination, which provided him with nice scenes without his own rational will. And he hated it!

What Kakashi was thinking about was that the rage will probably let the teacher last longer without the additional warming. He didn't know his innocent joke would make Iruka fantasize.

:+:

The day was very busy and Iruka was glad it was because he had no time to be angry at Kakashi. Jumping here and there among the volunteered participants, he showed the different types of protection and attack.

"If you want to feel protected and be able to defend yourself any second of night and day," Iruka cried so that every single listener in the field could hear him, "be careful and remember to have all possibly useful inconspicuous equipment and weapons with you, such as laces, handkerchiefs, rings, hair bands, etc; plus the pack of needles and kunai, if you are really skillful in using those. When you have no possibility to bring weapons with you, or get it from the sources around you, you must be ready to use just what you have on you. So, laces can be convenient to strangle your enemy, handkerchief – to gag them, ring – to make your impacts more torturous, and as for the hair band…" Stepping to the open place in the centre to be visible, Iruka loosened his hair and demonstrated his own hair band to his listeners, "Personally I use the hair band with sharpened metallic clamps, specially modified to transform into universal opener and spear. If you are good at using these little tricks, you can turn from an ordinary person into a very dangerous person just in an instant…"

In the pause Iruka headed directly to his silver-haired attendant.

"Kakashi! I can't help it; I hear a lot of whispers around. Everyone is talking about my 'round ass belonging to your humble bastardness only'! What the hell is that about?"

"First of all, I'm awfully sorry your ass is being protected by humble me and doesn't belong to all those jerks who are so much interested to get it!" spit Kakashi bitterly, "And, I'm sorry I had to come up with an excuse of us being lovers because of your - not my - stupidity and incompetence! As if I enjoy following you everywhere, sensei!"

"You have another ass in mind to follow?" asked Iruka, unexpectedly alert.

Kakashi continued to observe the field, doing his best to look ignorant.

"Yours will do, thank you very much," he muttered, "It's been troublesome enough and makes me unable to even think about something else!"

"Very good," Iruka nodded, stepping closer to the silver-haired man and putting his cold palms into the gap between Kakashi's uniform pants and vest in an already common motion. He stopped his lips near the other man's ear and lowered his voice to a tiny whisper, "Never forget about the mission, jounin!"

Kakashi snorted. He thought they discussed it in the morning and he volunteered to be the jealous mate. But he had no objections if Iruka desired that role. In his opinion the less pretense he had to show during the mission, the better.

As soon as his hands became warm again, the teacher stepped away, nodded to Kakashi with his usual politeness, and returned to his listeners to continue the lecture. Kakashi stood stunned, silently admiring Iruka's dominative side and not quite understanding what to think of it.

"Still, sometimes situations occur when you have nothing at all, not even your clothes on," continued Iruka, "And there are several techniques I want to demonstrate to you today. First of all, if your hands are free, but your enemy is a lot bigger than you, the best way to distract or even weaken them is to attack their eyes. Depending on your position, you are to come closer to your prey; perfect is when you have a chance to pretend you want to kiss them. Cup the enemy's face with your right hand and then in one smooth but quick movement press your big finger to their left eyelid, just above the corner of the eye. You have to thrust the finger inside the eye socket as if you want to squeeze the eyeball out completely. By the way it's very much possible, so don't hesitate in a case when you are in great danger. Do it harshly and, believe me, the person will be in such pain, they will forget about your existence for a while. That's when you'll get an opportunity either to beat them or run away, whatever you choose. Everyone got it? I'll show the exact movement now, be attentive. Who wants to volunteer as a prey? After that we will proceed with the next type…"

The audience was listening to the teacher's lecture catching every word. Iruka was happy he had no reason to shout at these adult people. They were polite and attentive, opposite to his usually misbehaving smaller students.

Time after time Iruka shot short glances at his silver-haired attendant and noted that he seemed as absent-minded and lazy-looking as always. Still, there was no orange-covered book in his hand. He also fixedly followed Iruka's movements with his uncovered eye. He even waved at Iruka, once!

Iruka realized he was squinting at Kakashi too often and decided to stop doing it. He reminded himself it was the silver-haired man's job to look after him, not otherwise, but it didn't help.

:+:

Sasuke wasn't looking for Naruto, no way! He simply decided to walk around the village and made seven circles already, but didn't meet his friend. Not that he wanted to! Still, it started to depress him. How was it he couldn't find the blond loud monster in the not-so-big village? After that thought he started to look purposely, but made another two full circles before he spotted Naruto standing under the mountain and gazing at the previous Hokages' faces.

He speculated if Naruto would come to the conclusion that Sasuke was missing him because he didn't see him entire day. With a quiet snort, he came closer to his friend. It was Naruto after all!

"Hey!" said Sasuke.

Naruto turned to him and nodded.

"Hello."

Sasuke frowned. His friend looked rather absent-minded, it was unusual.

"What happened?" he asked, quite sure Naruto would immediately tell him what was distracting him from being a cheerful jerk. And he was right in his expectations.

"Just thinking what to do," Naruto lifted his hand and pointed at the serious faces above, "For sure, it's unacceptable that I want to be Hokage soon, but I can't get what I decided to get now!"

Now it became a little bit clearer.

"So, it means Kiba refused to give you a kiss?" Sasuke wondered, suppressing his happiness about the fact to not to let it show on his face. He was very much afraid Naruto would notice how glad he was. But it was Naruto, and he was so overwhelmed with emotions that he noticed nothing.

"No, I didn't ask him," Naruto muttered and lowered his eyes to the ground.

"Hn," Sasuke gave out a rather sneering sound.

"I'd like to see you kissing Kiba, after you realize how often he kisses his dog!"

"Hn!"

"Now I have to think about someone else to try a kiss…" speculated Naruto.

Sasuke shrugged. He still couldn't find a good argument to talk his friend out of this idea.

"Do it with a tomato. I've heard it's similar."

"How can it be similar?"

Sasuke shrugged again.

"I've heard Genma asking Iruka-sensei to train kissing tomatoes dead more often because every time he saw the process he almost came."

Naruto's eyes widened.

"He came… Where?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Dobe. Forget it!"

"By the way, that is not a bad idea," said Naruto.

"Hn?"

"I mean, I can ask Genma in person, can't I?" He grinned and clapped his hands, "Thank you for the tip, teme. You are a great friend, even in spite of you being an ass and not wanting to kiss me!"

Naruto waved him goodbye and headed to the mission room with the intention of finding Genma.

For a very long minute, Sasuke stared at his back, trying to understand his friend's logic. Then, he sighed and shut his eyes. He was going to stop Naruto from interactions with Genma, even if it meant that he'd have to surrender and do what his friend wants.


	10. Chapter 10

:10:

"Naruto, wait!" cried Sasuke. His face contorted; he was very much surprised that his own voice sounded so pleading.

"Yes?" Naruto turned around and looked at his friend, waiting for arguments. He supposed there should be arguments. It was Sasuke who stopped him after all.

Sasuke sighed and averted his eyes.

"I… Don't go to Genma, I agree…"

"You… what?" Naruto pretended he didn't understand. But in fact he simply couldn't believe his ears.

"Okay, I'll kiss you. Just don't go to Genma for it," Sasuke muttered, staring to the side.

Naruto beamed and came back to him.

"Awesome!" He stopped right in front of his friend, closed his eyes, leaned forward, and puckered his lips, as though he was ready to be kissed.

Sasuke sighed, observing the exposed face. Among all people he knew so far, only Naruto's mood and behavior could change so quickly and unpredictably.

"Wait, tell me one thing first. Are you sure you won't regret this idea after I kiss you?" asked Sasuke.

Naruto straightened and stared at him.

"How can I be sure? What if you are a terrible kisser? You know, you saw the way Genma and Raido did it; they liked every second while their lips were touching…"

"Moreover, while their groins were touching," Sasuke murmured sarcastically.

"What? Groin? How is that?" Naruto frowned.

Sasuke bit his lower lip. He was so stupid! If Naruto was obsessed with staring at the men sucking each other's faces, he didn't pay attention to anything else.

He'd better hold his tongue before Naruto decides he wants to try that too and asks him for a dry fuck.

"Nothing, nothing…"

"Okay! If you are a terrible kisser indeed, I'll be forced to go to Genma. He's definitely a good one."

"He is a good one for Raido," said Sasuke sadly, "It doesn't mean he'll be good for you. Have you ever heard about…?"

"Are you going to kiss me or not? You know I hate the theory, I'd better get a practice lesson!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. Without further hesitating, he licked his lips, stepped to Naruto and put their mouths together. Naruto's lips were soft and dry, and they burned against his own. He made an emphatic movement to make Naruto open his mouth, but all he got was a questioning moan and wide blue eyes staring into his own.

'Moron!' thought Sasuke, being extremely annoyed, 'He's like that with everything he does, including the jutsus – first he can't get how it works and then, no one can stop him!'

That's why he took Naruto's face in his palms to hold him in place and tenderly bit his lower lip. Naruto gasped and gaped. Sasuke hummed approvingly, crammed his tongue between his friend's lips, and started to suck alternately the upper and the lower lip, simultaneously massaging them with his tongue.

Naruto closed his eyes, which was the definite sign of him enjoying the sensations. Sasuke relaxed and smiled into the kiss, admitting that the feeling of contact was pretty nice. It was before Naruto decided to try to respond and started to copy Sasuke's movements, sucking on him too and pushing his tongue into his friend's mouth.

It was Sasuke's turn to moan.

The moan startled Naruto, and he darted away.

"Did I hurt you? Oh, I'm sorry!" he shouted.

"No, it's okay, I just got distracted…" Sasuke coughed and cleaned his mouth with the back of his hand. Naruto mirrored the action, gazing at his friend with a half-astonished, half-wistful expression.

'But that wasn't bad,' thought Sasuke, gazing back dreamily, 'Maybe I should explain to him the next steps? And let him ask me for a fuck... No! I should not think about it. I shouldn't… But that felt good…'

:+:

Very angry with himself, and not at all with Kakashi, Iruka did his best to concentrate on his lecture. Still, time after time, he almost lost the thread of his talk; as his eyes traveled along the field to find the supportive hints for inspiration, they always stopped either at his attendant's mane of silver hair or at his masked face.

'Silly jounin!' thought Iruka. Although he couldn't explain even to himself how it happened that in his mind the infamous genius copy-nin suddenly became silly. He knew very well Kakashi wasn't silly! Then, why did he scold him so often in his mind?

After Iruka was done with monotonous muttering of the commonplace truths, there appeared several listeners who had questions, and he answered every single one of them even in spite of already freezing. His thin socks were wet for a long while, and, since he stopped jumping and showing examples, he couldn't feel his feet. That's why he was through with being angry at his foolish brain and began to hate his useless body.

Finally, the only person with a question left was a middle-aged woman, extremely appealing because of her muscular body and mischievous eyes. Iruka smiled at her, hoping his smile didn't look that faked.

"Well, my question is the last, isn't it?" The woman smirked, "And here it is – Are you having sex with Hatake Kakashi?"

It was so unexpected, that Iruka freaked out.

"What? No!" he cried loudly, his eyes wide. He was shocked and denial came out mechanically. People around were grinning at him, considering him a protective liar. Iruka blushed furiously and made an effort to correct the impression and restore the legend, "I mean… it's not a thing of your concern what I do with Hatake Kakashi!" He knew he was bad at it and maybe it was already too late.

The woman looked very much surprised and opened her mouth to ask another, probably equally embarrassing, question, when a sudden lazy voice interfered with the conversation.

"We are not having sex," Kakashi said slowly, approaching the group. As soon as he joined them, he entwined his hands around the teacher's waist from behind, "We are making love."

The people either giggled or chuckled, but Iruka didn't care about them. He realized how awfully cold it was right when his back was forcefully pressed against Kakashi's chest. Enjoying the warmth, the teacher closed his eyes and happily missed the biggest part of the conversation. Only, one particular phrase made him alert.

"My dear Kakashi!" the annoying woman laughed, "Sure, it's so much like you to have romantic relationships with the most dangerous persons."

Iruka frowned and forced his eyes to open. Was she flirting? And what did she mean by 'romantic relationships'? Honestly, could this silver-haired deadly bastard be romantic?

"Well," Kakashi drawled and pulled Iruka closer, hugging him tightly to share body heat with the freezing teacher, "You shouldn't worry so much. This particular lover doesn't look dangerous when there are only two of us. He looks rather needy and desirous, I'd say."

"Of course," The woman accomplished a smile, which, Iruka decided, had to be seductive, "If you think you lack assistance in your needy interactions, please share with me..."

"Thank you for your suggestion, "Iruka interrupted, his voice poisonous, and clung his back even closer to his attendant's chest, "I don't think we'll crave something like that any time soon."

The woman laughed at this snap, winked at Kakashi and disappeared in the shadows of coming nightfall.

Iruka turned around and put his cold hands under the jounin's shirt.

"Don't speculate our relationship!" he hissed to Kakashi's face.

"I was telling the truth, wasn't I?" The silver-haired man wondered, obviously smirking under his mask.

"You were making fun of me the whole day!" exploded Iruka, "Did you think I wouldn't notice? You were talking with different people, laughing with them, winking at them, patting their shoulders, half-embracing almost every one of them, sometimes even hugging!" he stepped on Kakashi's foot and raised his head to look into the jounin's eyes, while the latter obviously didn't understand why interacting with old acquaintances was so bad, "And I just fight with this damn coldness! Fuck, I'm wet and frozen. I haven't been able to feel my feet for almost an hour already," Iruka started to whine, bitter tears appearing in the corners of his eyes.

"You should begin with that," Kakashi pushed the teacher away, grabbed his hand and pulled him in direction of the main building, "Let's return to our room and put you under a hot shower."

Iruka followed the jounin in tow, slightly sobbing.

"Gosh, you had to tell me immediately! You were doing great today. I even forgot you have this problem!" continued to mutter Kakashi. He was distracted indeed. But those were not his friends who distracted him. Actually, he was admiring Iruka the whole day, watching him lecturing and teaching people of different caliber with the same easiness.

"You just want to escape the talk about your actions!" said Iruka suddenly.

"Maa, you mean I'm bad because I talked to people? Iruka, you sound jealous to me," Kakashi shrugged.

"I told you this morning – it has nothing to do with jealousy!" Iruka cried and made a weak effort to get his hand out of the silver-haired man's grip. Kakashi only squinted at him disapprovingly and shook his head.

"Then it must have something to do with your sense of property!" grunted Kakashi, "I'm not at all yours, Iruka-sensei. I'm here to accomplish the mission as your attendant. I understand this uneasiness you feel because of the constant coldness around, and I admit it makes you unconsciously demand my attention. Still, please remember – I don't belong to you and I won't behave like you want me to behave. It's until I get something very good in return…"

"Stop laughing at me, I'm aware that you are a human, not a property," hissed Iruka, "Anyway, what can I do for you in return? Do you want me to warm you back? Well, I can cool you, if you'd like."

Kakashi grunted and proceeded to tug him upstairs into their room.

Iruka grit his teeth. He was frustrated. Of all possible attendants, his attendant had to be Hatake Kakashi! And, besides, there were a dozen of nice pictures in his head now, including skin-on-skin actions, sex, embraces, sleeping together... They scared him.

But the most frightful thing was that he had a suspicion he'd dream of all this stuff.

:+:

"Hey, you two! Wait!"

Iruka noticed Kakashi stop tugging him up the stairs and turned around. The man they met on their very first day was climbing up to join them.

He looked at the flushed Iruka with a strange expression in his sharp eyes and addressed his attendant.

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you, Kakashi, but you are always with your girlfriend so far."

Kakashi shrugged and smiled at him sheepishly, slowly caressing the fingers of Iruka's hand, which he still held in his hand.

"Well, you can talk to me now, because I have no secrets from my girlfriend."

"I'd better not," declared the man, squinting at Iruka suspiciously, "Who knows what he can do to you if he gets angry."

Unintentionally, Iruka's lips pressed together into the thin line and his fists clenched. A moment later he noticed that he was definitely hurting Kakashi's palm.

"You've already made him mad, so you can say it anyway," With the pale forefinger of his free hand Kakashi pointed at the fingers of his other hand, mercilessly squeezed in Iruka's grip, "I'm afraid this night he'll unconsciously hug me into unconsciousness."

"He's a cuddler then?"

"Loves stealing the heat of my body," shared Kakashi intimately.

"Are you serious?"

"Have I ever lied to you?"

"No, but, as you well know, I'm not a cuddler and it's very unbelievable that the other m…"

Fed up with their blabbing and pretension he was a brainless piece of furniture, Iruka henged his eyes red, raised his head and stared straight at the annoying man's face.

The man gasped and made a step back, immediately falling and rolling several steps down to the next stairwell. There he jumped up and ran away without any additional glances at the silent figures of Kakashi and Iruka.

Kakashi sighed.

"Could you please stop getting rid of my friends?"

Iruka made his once again brown eyes look into Kakashi's visible black eye.

"I remember you requesting the exact action from me earlier," he muttered, happy that the man evaporated. Still Iruka wondered what kind of talk he wanted to have with his attendant. He said it was something that could make Iruka angry. But even when Iruka was in his normal state, everything about Kakashi made him angry. Wait, it was something that could make Kakashi's girlfriend angry! Currently, Iruka was Kakashi's metaphorical girlfriend, but as far as he was usually angry at him, could it mean he always looked like he was Kakashi's girlfriend?

"I was joking," Kakashi snapped and pulled Iruka's hand, distracting him from his uneasy thoughts. Then he paused, "Yet, if you are suddenly so obedient… Next time you can henge your eyes red and additionally triple the length of your canine teeth. After that you go smile at that poor guy as wide as you can and watch what happens."

:+:

As soon as they reached their room Kakashi pushed the teacher into the bathroom and went to the local kitchen to get something to eat. When he returned, Iruka was sitting in the arm-chair with the cushion in its usual place.

"What did that woman mean, when she said you have romantic relationships with dangerous persons?" he asked straightforwardly.

Stunned at first, Kakashi came to the table and put the food on its surface.

"She meant you are dangerous," he muttered finally, "And I must admit you were very impressive during those demonstrations.

"That's not exactly what I asked about," pointed Iruka. Kakashi tugged his mask down and stared at the teacher with interest. Iruka sighed and continued, "Was she dangerous enough to date her in your past?"

Kakashi's visible eye went wide; he coughed to hide the laugh.

But Iruka was too busy with formulating his questions to notice it.

"Is that silly freak, whom I made fall down the steps earlier, dangerous too?"

On that point the silver-haired man smirked openly.

"Iruka, you are jealous!"

"No, I'm not!"

"Yes, you are," Kakashi arranged the food on the table and held out a plate for Iruka, "Either you are jealous or very impolite and nosy."

Iruka took his plate from Kakashi's hands and placed it on his knees.

"I'm not nosy! I respect people's privacy!"

"That's why I say you are jealous," Kakashi laughed, "And I like it when you are jealous!"

"Really?" asked Iruka, "Why?"

"It's because at these moments you are too heated to feel the coldness around you," said Kakashi.

Iruka put a piece of what looked like chicken meat into his mouth and started to chew. He was looking at the cold winter sky through the window and tried to digest the information. It looked like his attendant preferred Iruka being jealous of him because it made his work easier. That wasn't right!

"Wonderful!" he sighed finally and tried to pierce the next piece of chicken with his fork only to find that his plate was already empty. The teacher dropped the fork in irritation and turned his head back to the window, pouting.

Kakashi reached for the abandoned fork and returned it to Iruka with two pieces of chicken from his own plate.

"What's wonderful?" he asked.

Iruka looked at the fork and put one piece of chicken into his mouth.

"You," he murmured, now staring at the silver-haired jounin. Kakashi was his attendant and as long as they were on the mission he was taking care of him and only of him. Iruka could live with that.

"Excuse me?" Kakashi frowned, not getting the clue of what the teacher was talking about.

"Thank you," said Iruka. He smiled at Kakashi softly and reassuringly, pushing all disgraceful thoughts back into the depth of his mind in desperate hope they'll get lost somewhere there and never return to tempt him.

Kakashi nodded, partly happy Iruka looked stable and partly confused by that strangely impure smile.


	11. Chapter 11

:11:

"Now we sleep?" wondered Kakashi.

Iruka sat on the bed and looked at his partially covered figure.

"Hatake-san, let's get it straight…" he started politely but was immediately interrupted by the jounin.

"It's Kakashi."

Iruka put his feet at the end of the bed but didn't try to crawl under the blanket. Kakashi could see the teacher's skin turn into gooseflesh. Knowing Iruka's freezing abilities and considering his nakedness, except the red shorts, it wasn't at all surprising. And still, he continued to stubbornly freeze. The teacher was definitely up to something.

"Only when in public. I don't want us to be too familiar with each other," declared Iruka, his teeth chattering on their own accord during the induced pauses between words, "It can spoil our mission."

"How? We both know that currently you often act on bare emotions. So you always calling me Kakashi won't spoil anything. Actually, it will prevent a lot of questions and troubles when in public."

"Um…" Iruka sighed. He was stubborn and stiff, yet he was also cold, "And, you must accept I'm not jealous, but rational."

Kakashi rose on his elbow and grinned at Iruka.

"No. You are in no position to make requests. Let me think about it," he looked at the ceiling, pretending to be lost in thought and then squinted at the trembling teacher, "You must accept you act like a jealous sissy, and, after that, I'll allow you to reside in my warm arms. Deal?"

Iruka jumped up and clenched his fists.

"Fuck you, Kakashi!" he cried, raging.

"Aha, it's already Kakashi, very good," the jounin lay back on the bed and covered himself with the blanket, "Listen carefully, Iruka. After you are done acting like Naruto, when denied ramen, and calm down, please come here and get the warmth you need."

These words said, Kakashi turned his back to Iruka and pretended to fall asleep.

Iruka stood near the bed, his body shuddering because of the coldness and his spirit tingling in fury. But at the end, he had to swallow his pride. Trembling all over, he crawled under the blanket and got closer to his attendant's body. Kakashi didn't move or turn around; he just lay there, accepting Iruka, but doing nothing to comfort him. Iruka smiled. That was exactly the thing he needed! No comforting, no caressing, no compassion, no pity, no hints to make him dependable or activate his imagination. He entwined his hand around the jounin's waist, pressed his forehead to the man's spine right between his shoulder blades, and closed his eyes, accumulating the heat.

:+:

Very well aware of the fact that he was dreaming, Iruka let out a low moan of pleasure. He started to hope this dream wouldn't end, or transform into something dull, eager to continue seeing it for hours and hours.

As it usually happened in dreams, the surroundings were unremarkable. The dark unfamiliar room, strange furniture around, a dim moonlight falling on the bed he laid in. But also, there was someone near.

A warm body was turned with its back to him, and he was already lightly embracing it by the waist. Iruka smiled and tightened his grip around the waist. The body tensed immediately, but there was no sign that his hand became unwelcome. Iruka's smile widened. He liked this dream a lot, especially as he had a suspicion to who exactly this body belonged to.

Iruka inhaled the smell of the skin his forehead was pressed to. It was so thrilling, so delicate and so familiar. Now, when he was just dreaming, he could do whatever he wanted. He could touch the body; he could explore every curve of it and enjoy its hidden strength. He could do brazen things and make it feel very good. And for sure, there were some parts of that body he wanted to touch in particular. Just the thought of it made Iruka's groin ache.

Somehow, Iruka was sure that even this always annoying and teasing jounin must behave when on his mercy in his dream. And there was no reason to hold back while dreaming. At least, like every devoted shinobi, Iruka was very much interested in little exploration, especially when given a good chance.

First of all, there was the hair he wanted to touch. He reached for the silver mane and brushed his fingers through the long strands. They were so soft. Iruka started to massage the scalp, feeling the whole body relax under his touches.

Continuing to soothingly stroke the hair, he traced the warm skin in front of him with his nose and finally buried it in the curve of the jounin's neck. He planted a kiss on the man's shoulder and felt a quick spark run between their two bodies. It was inspiring.

Slowly, Iruka's other hand slid from the jounin's waist to the lower region. It stopped to draw several teasing circles around the navel and continued its way down. As soon as Iruka's hand reached the edge of the underwear, he bit into the skin of the exposed neck to suppress a needy groan. Right there, under the piece of thin fabric, was a part of the body he wanted to touch most.

Iruka wondered what it's going to feel like once he pats it. He laughed inwardly at his hesitance and foolishness. It was his dream, so it must be exactly like he wants it to be. And indeed, when he lowered his palm and made it slide further, there it was, straight under the fabric - a sizable, hard flesh, hot under his shyly probing fingertips.

While alternately sucking at the neck and purring in pleasure of thrilling sensations, Iruka made his fingers wander up and down the covered erection. It obviously met his most concealed expectations, and he couldn't wait to touch it in flesh without any fabrics in the way.

But before that, he had to take care of the comfort of his own aching erection. It strained the thick red fabric of his special winter underwear and began to cause unpleasant sensations. Iruka freed his penis and pressed his abdomen to the muscled ass. That position didn't satisfy him though, and he made the pliant man move his legs and let his hardness reside between them. With the tip of his penis he now touched the jounin's testicles through the underwear.

A wave of foretaste pervaded Iruka's body.

Still massaging the jounin's scalp with one hand, he once again reached for yet the unexplored shaft of the other man and freed his length from its woven imprisonment.

The hard hot flesh twitched in Iruka's palm, and Iruka's hips pushed forward on their own accord, as if in short approval. The experience of his penis sliding between the jounin's thighs turned out so enjoyable, that Iruka couldn't help but repeat the action. Actually, it was so much to his liking that he began to do it again and again, simultaneously squeezing the other man's pulsing erection, pumping it, treating it with suddenly awoken passion.

Already overwhelmed with sensations, Iruka didn't notice how persistent he was, while increasing the rhythm of his concerted movements. He was absolutely sure that the jounin was fond of what he made with him. In fact, this was Iruka's dream, and he just knew there must be a great appreciation from the silver-haired man. He stopped to suck on the neck and traced it all the way up with his tongue, until he reached the ear and started to ardently suck on the earlobe.

As suspected, the jounin panted heavily, definitely suppressing the moans of delight.

Iruka hummed at this sign of affection and let out a long growl, strengthening the pace of his movements.

"Kakashi," he whispered into the jounin's ear. And, sure enough, the man melted under the pressure, breathed out a low moan, and came. Iruka's muscles contorted and he came too, spilling his semen between the man's inner thighs.

Iruka's hand slid back up and entwined around the jounin's waist, pressing him closer to his chest.

Two covered in sweat bodies relaxed and, as the exhaustion fell on them both, Iruka felt himself sink into the layers of sleep inside of his wonderful dream.

:+:

The first thing Iruka found when he woke up in the morning was that he woke up to a nightmare.

His penis was residing on Kakashi's inner thigh, and it was not at all a good sign. Hastily, he removed his hand from his attendant's waist and tried to simultaneously move away from his body. But the sticky substance, the jounin's thighs were covered in, didn't let him do it at once and there was that unpleasant sensation of coming off, that woke the jounin too.

Kakashi started and turned his head to Iruka. Iruka's wide opened, frightened eyes told him enough. He discarded the blanket to the teacher's side, exposing his pale body with his penis freed from his pants. Kakashi's forefinger traced the line along his stomach and he winced at the thick amount of drying seminal fluid on it. Then the silver-haired head rose to observe his inner thighs and Iruka closed his eyes, not able to bear the embarrassment. His cheeks burned.

"Nice," Kakashi drawled.

Iruka panicked. An aspiration to justify himself overwhelmed him.

"I was afraid it could happen. It's the reason I behaved oddly, when tried to sleep near the radiator and wanted to keep away from you, "muttered Iruka hurriedly. Well, it was one of the many reasons. Another weighty reason was his unstableness because of cold weather. It caused the stress, which lead to mental confusion and a necessity to get rid of that unwelcome and ill-timed stress. Here appeared another reason - the obligation to complete the mission required the full-fit body, so the urge to get rid of stress increased. It wasn't very crucial, but while Kakashi was so incredibly nice to him, took care of him, and was always near him, it all went wrong very easily. Iruka understood how it worked, but if he stood aside and regarded himself, he looked like a simple sex-addicted slut, who used the closest available person to fulfill his obscene appetites, "I knew I would be affected if you showed me signs of attention and care. I'm more than sorry. I'm unworthy of the trust and…"

"Stop that," Kakashi rolled his eyes, "I'm going to the shower to get rid of this mess. You don't need to clean much, I presume, as you came all over me and made me do the same… And we will have a talk about what happened once I'm back."

As Kakashi walked to the bathroom, Iruka kept staring at his firm ass's muscles moving under the underwear.

Blushing and fighting with his sinful inner winner, Iruka covered himself, head included, with the blanket in an effort to hide from the cruel reality. It didn't help much, because in the darkness the vivid episodes of his dream, that wasn't a dream after all, were eager to pop out and tease his already edged mind.

Soon enough Kakashi returned from the bathroom with a towel around his hips and another towel around his neck.

"Now, about what you have done, Iruka," he started slowly. His hands raised and began to dry his hair with the help of the towel, tousling it with quick furious movements. "Congratulations, you pass."

"What do you mean - I pass?" wondered Iruka's muffled voice from under the blanket.

Kakashi grunted.

"Well, you've got my balls, haven't you?" he came closer to the bed. "Similar to the test your students passed before. Only, you managed to accomplish it alone, without required teamwork. Impressive, I'd say."

There was a long pause while Kakashi waited for a reaction. He was ready for anything, but not for what happened next.

Iruka dived out from under the blanket and stared at the jounin, his eyebrows furrowed.

"Now that you mentioned it – it was actually teamwork!" he snapped.

"Huh?" Kakashi's facial expression changed; from taunting to stunned.

Staring at him, Iruka started to discourse.

"You were not sleeping, you participated too. You could have stopped me from the very beginning! You could check my chakra level and, I presume, you knew pretty well that I was asleep, you knew I was dreaming," Iruka hesitated for a moment then cried at the top of his lungs, "You didn't stop me, why?"

"Maa…" Kakashi drawled, "I wondered how far you could go in your dreaming state."

Iruka sat up in bed, ignoring the fact that the blanket fell off to his waist and exposed his tanned skin. He didn't feel coldness around, he was very angry.

"Oh, really?" he asked sarcastically, "It was an investigation then?"

Kakashi nodded.

"Sort of. And, besides, if you ask my opinion, it turned out really good…"

"Shut up!" Iruka spat bitterly, feeling his cheeks redden even more. He turned his head to the side to avoid meeting Kakashi's leering gaze. That jounin must be laughing at him!

"Also, you know what?" continued Kakashi.

"What?"

"You moaned my name."

"What?" Iruka's eyes widened. He darted to turn his head and look at the jounin's face. He wanted to be sure that Kakashi was lying. But Kakashi's visible eye gained a very honest expression. He leaned closer to Iruka.

"You moaned my name while you touched me… hmmm… there!" He pointed his finger at the towel, which currently covered his groin, "Yes, I knew very well that you were dreaming. But, you moaned my name in your impure sleep, isn't it amusing?

"Don't you dare make fun of it!" shouted Iruka.

Kakashi sat on the bed and reached for Iruka's face.

"C'mon," he caressed the teacher's cheek with his fingertips, "I'm not making fun and it's nothing to be ashamed of. We are on a mission, you suffer from coldness and you are extremely stressed. I realize that you need it."

Iruka bit his lower lip, his expression miserable. He accepted that the jounin was right.

"You could ask me," continued Kakashi, "I'd have gladly helped you out of it."

After that final declaration Iruka's face became blank.

"You'd have helped me out?" he wondered suspiciously, "What do you mean by that?"

Kakashi smiled and stroked his hair soothingly.

"I'd jerk you off, or fuck you, whatever you prefer. Shinobi do it on missions, it is normal."

Iruka pushed his hand away.

"No, it's not!" he cried furiously, moving away from Kakashi and fighting with the blanket to crawl out of the bed with the intention to be as far from his attendant as possible, "It's awful to even say such things! If there is a person you love you can't do it to random people in any situation!"

His hand still in the air, Kakashi sat on the bed completely shocked by that soulful outburst.

"But, Iruka, I don't have such a person," he said quietly. He followed with his eye the teacher walking to the bathroom door, "Do you have one?"

Iruka said nothing. He entered the bathroom and slammed the door behind him.

:+:

Training is the necessary work you have to perform on daily basis to not come out of form, to increase your abilities, to sharpen your skills, to become stronger. It inquires a lot of practice.

Naruto knew it very well and continued to train hard every day.

One fine day, in the resting pause, he addressed his friend while both of them sat on the ground in the shade of the huge tree.

"Hey, Sasuke…" Naruto breathed heavily after the intense session.

"What?" Sasuke asked, in not at all a nice tone of voice, as he was breathing heavily too.

"Did I kiss well?"

Sasuke squinted at his friend suspiciously.

"It was okay…"

"Shall we practice it more? Because, you remember, Iruka-sensei told us that every art demands regular exercise…" said Naruto very seriously.

"No!" Sasuke cried, losing the peace of mind he always found so difficult to keep up when with Naruto and not training.

"But our teachers say we have to practice till perfection…" announced Naruto.

"I said no!" hissed Sasuke, his eyes wide.

"But whyyyy?" whined Naruto loudly, "I'm quite sure there must be practicing too!"

Sasuke hid his face in his palms and sighed. It looked like just another craze of the loud blond. Not that it was so surprising, it was Naruto after all.

"Dobe," muttered Sasuke. He expected they'll argue about this again and very soon.


	12. Chapter 12

:12:

It's been several days since Sasuke started to hate the training ground. Actually, that was because this training ground happened to be the only place he had a chance to be with Naruto alone. And every time it occurred, the whining began.

"Sasuke, please!" Naruto cried in his usual half-pleading manner. "Please, do it again!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes and sighed. He was tired of hearing Naruto's voice. It was a kiss his friend was pleading for, and he really wanted to kiss the pleader. It was starting to be unbearable; all he had to do was just give him another kiss. He was sure he'd break soon. Yet, for now he used his right to tease the dobe a little.

Distracted by his thoughts, he realized too there was someone else besides the two of them on the training ground. He turned around and blinked.

"Hey, jerks, have another family quarrel?" Genma asked happily, with uncovered amusement.

Naruto turned his head and also saw Genma, who had definitely been watching them for a while already.

"Ah, Genma-san," he mumbled weakly and averted his eyes to the side, as if he was unsure how to behave.

Sasuke simply nodded his greeting and stared at the older man, wondering what the hell he forgot near their properly booked training ground.

"Hi," said Genma shortly. He came closer to the boys, his ever-present senbon between smirking lips, "So, what's the buzz?"

Naruto shrugged and pointed his finger at Sasuke's boots.

"I'm asking Sasuke to teach me how to do the kissing in due course, and teme is being a stubborn ass!"

"Oh, really? Is he?" murmured Genma, observing Sasuke's face and noticing a slight blush appear on the usually pale cheeks.

Sasuke punched his friend, inwardly swearing not to hold back during the next sparring session and make him literally eat mud.

"Did he show you how to do it already?" wondered Genma, his eyes still fixed on Sasuke's face. Sasuke winced; that intense attention was rather annoying.

"Only once," confirmed Naruto. "It's not enough I think. I want to be the best all around; I need a good training."

Genma stood there for a while, sucking his senbon. Finally he grinned.

"You know, Naruto, if you really want to learn to do it, you should first watch how it works with other people and only then train, using the points and clues of what you've seen. You can't get it right until you see it happen in slow motion."

That sounded logical, so Naruto nodded his agreement.

Sasuke frowned. He thought it sounded logical too, but, taking into account Genma's cheerful mood, there must be a trap somewhere. After all, that man was the subject of the huge amount of village's weirdest rumors.

Meanwhile, Genma continued, breaking the flow of Sasuke's suspicious thoughts.

"I'll show you an example. You should watch carefully and memorize everything I do," With these words Genma caught Sasuke's chin and brought their faces together.

Like in slow motion Naruto watched Sasuke's mouth open in protest only to be consumed by the mouth of the older man. Their lips moved together, first uncertainly, then more enthusiastically and fiercer, gaining the well-known tempo of the once learned common style. Sasuke's frown slowly disappeared, replaced by an expression of interest and delectation. In front of Naruto's horrified face the kiss deepened, then became open, two tongues licking each other in a strange staged fight. Sasuke stepped closer to Genma and entwined his hands around the taller man's neck.

At this point Naruto's shocked state broke and he darted forward. He grabbed Genma's arm, yanked it, and pulled him away from his friend.

"I've got the idea, thank you," Naruto exhaled and pushed the jounin's back to make him go away. "I think that's enough."

Genma squinted at him, as if he expected another reaction, but then shrugged.

"Are you sure? I just started, as they say, to warm to the subject…"

"I'm quite sure!" spat Naruto. "Please leave us."

Genma gazed at Sasuke, who stood on the spot, frozen and with his eyes wide open. Then, he nodded and walked away, chuckling loudly and not hiding his enormously good mood.

:+:

Iruka stood near the door for five minutes already, his hands crossed on his chest and his head tilted to the side. He watched the silver-haired jounin, a very annoyed expression on his scarred face.

Kakashi suspected the teacher had stopped talking to him. But he couldn't understand why. What had he done?

Slowly, Kakashi closed his orange-covered book and stood up. He came closer to Iruka and stopped right in front of him, mimicking the displeased pose as best he could.

"Aren't you going to wear your pullover today?" he asked, finally tired of the intense stare off.

Iruka said nothing, only blinked and squinted at his warm pullover, left completely forgotten on the arm-chair near the radiator. His cheeks gained a pink color in an instant. He was too distracted and angry, so he totally forgot about it.

After the teacher was done with pulling the pullover on, he came back to the door and gripped the handle with intention to open it and leave for the voting session. But a pale hand caught his elbow and made him freeze.

"Wait a second, what about your hair?" Kakashi's hand stroke Iruka's brown mane, left loose because of the teacher's frustration, "Want me to help you fix it?"

He made an effort to gather the strands into the ponytail, but Iruka darted and jumped to the side, enormously irritated by his attention. What he really wanted was to be left alone. Still, there was the mission he had to complete and a conference he had to attend. He was so messed up and confused he wasn't sure he would do anything properly. Actually, he couldn't even think straight right now.

Quickly moving on their own routine accord, his fingers arranged the hair into a ponytail. Iruka raised his head high and left the room without another look at his attendant.

Kakashi chuckled loud enough to be completely sure the teacher heard it and followed him. As they went down the stairs he watched Iruka from the corner of his eye. Iruka knew he was being watched, but didn't show it, or at least, tried hard not to. That was until they came to the right level and the jounin's fingers reached for his face to remove several naughty hair-strands, which fell from the ponytail because it was made in haste, and put them behind Iruka's ear.

"Are you going to speak to me ever again? I really don't understand what I did to deserve this!" Kakashi hissed, watching the other men and women enter the main door of the voting hall.

Iruka sighed and looked at him for the first time since they left the room. His eyes wore a very uncommon hurt expression.

Suddenly there was a loud sound, indicating the session's start. Iruka turned away and almost ran to the hall's door. Kakashi had no choice but follow him again. One more time he swore inwardly to take vengeance on Hokage as soon as he reached their village. That is, if he ever manages it with that stubborn, unstable freak of a teacher!

At the entrance the familiar reception girl caught Iruka's sleeve.

"We have a special arrangement for this voting session," she announced calmly. The words were addressed to Iruka, but she stared at Kakashi, "The seats for representatives in the main section are limited. Do you need your attendant near you today?"

Iruka didn't look at her either; he looked forward into the hall, but noticed nothing.

"No," he mumbled quietly, lowering his head and gently pulling his sleeve out of her grip, "I don't need my attendant."

The girl nodded and let his arm go.

"Wonderful!" she smiled somewhat evilly, "Take a seat at number 18 in the first row."

Kakashi winced at her expression, in spite of not being sure his interpretation was correct. And he didn't really care; he just stared at Iruka's back.

"Iruka, wait! For sure you need me," He got mad. It couldn't be true. That teacher couldn't be that silly!

Iruka ignored all his cries and moved to the first row of reserved seats for voters only.

"Fine," muttered Kakashi, "Fine, you asked for it!"

He went up the stairs and joined his friends in one of the upper rows. From his place he could perfectly see Iruka's nape with that perky ponytail on its top. For the thousandth time Kakashi was grateful for his mask, because at the moment he was shamelessly sulking and couldn't help it.

:+:

In two and a half hours they made a break. Kakashi was dozing off, very comfortable in his seat. The monotone mumbling of the assessors were so lulling, he couldn't even read his favorite book. And as far as he was told he wasn't needed, he had a proper chance to relax, right? He seriously thought so.

Something attracted his attention and he squinted at the strange figure climbing up the stairs, its movements stiff and slow. Kakashi's sleepy state disappeared when he recognized Iruka. The teacher reached his row and barked something unintelligible, pointing in Kakashi's direction and making all other row's occupants jump up hurriedly to give him way.

Still very slowly Iruka hobbled to Kakashi and without any hesitation sat in his lap. Trembling, he pressed to his attendant, entwined his arms around his shoulders, and buried his nose into the curve of his neck.

"F-f-ckng c-c-cold!" Iruka's teeth chattered. During these two and a half hours of continuous freezing he made more than a hundred promises not to make Kakashi angry ever again.

Kakashi cursed. He forgot to look after the teacher's state because of pure irritation. It was very unprofessional and so human! He placed his hands at Iruka's hips and started to use his chakra and work on restoring the man's blood flow. Iruka fidgeted on his knees and relaxed, enjoying the warmth. He sniffed weakly and tightened his embrace around Kakashi.

"Thank you," he whispered into his attendant's neck, "I'm sorry I'm so stupid. I should demand on having you by me."

"It's okay, just don't do it again," Kakashi muttered kindly.

Iruka shuddered.

"We have another 27 questions to discuss and vote," he whined, "I won't manage it, I already made several mindless decisions today. I'll die in that damn first row!"

"You will be alright, I promise," hummed Kakashi.

"You promise?" Iruka murmured unbelievingly.

Someone coughed nearby.

"Hey you, snugglers. Just so you know, the session is about to continue."

Iruka recognized the annoying man's voice, the one they met during this conference too oft for his taste. But he didn't move, continuing to hide his face in silver-haired jounin's neck.

"What the hell is he doing here?" he hissed angrily.

Kakashi rolled his eyes. Now, when Iruka was warm again, he was slowly transforming into his usual bitchy self.

"That's simple. He's a participant of this bloody conference as well as we are."

"Yes, bloody," the spoken man confirmed, definitely pleased.

Iruka didn't understand what he felt so happy about.

"I mean, why does he sit near you?" he wondered, even angrier than before.

Kakashi laughed.

"What if it's me who sits near him?" It was actually true. He knew almost every human in the hall; still he preferred to sit next to the ones he knew really well.

The loud squeak of microphone muffled Kakashi's last words.

"Participants, please take your places, we start the second part of our voting session."

Iruka stood up and narrowed his eye at the two men. After a short, intense staring session, his eyes focused on Kakashi's masked face.

"If I die today, tell Naruto he can have my personal season ticket for ramen," With these words he turned away and once more everyone who sat in the row hurriedly jumped up to let him pass.

"I promised you'd be alright, didn't I?" muttered Kakashi to the teacher's back.

:+:

"Do you love him that much?"

Kakashi raised his head with a huge effort and squinted at the man sitting next to him. He said nothing; he had no strength left to answer stupid questions.

"I don't know; it looks like you really do. Is it because he's so overprotective?" wondered the man.

That question made Kakashi laugh. It was worth answering.

"Like a mother-hen," he croaked and lowered his head; his exhaustion was enormous. He should think first before using so much chakra. But then again, he promised Iruka he'd keep him warm, didn't he? He always kept his promises, when it concerned his comrades.

"I'd say rather like a father-cock," the man commented, watching Iruka instructing several enthusiastic ninja, who stayed in the hall to get just another lesson. Except for them, the hall was empty now.

Kakashi choked on his laugh and fell on the desk in front of him, convulsing. It was too much for his overused body.

"Anyway," continued the man, his voice amused, "How is he in bed?"

Kakashi was silent for almost a minute, his half-lidded eye fixed on the enthusiastically gesturing teacher downstairs, too.

"Cold," he whispered. And it was the absolute truth, "Cold, at first. Yet, once he warms up, he can take initiative and become gratuitously investigative."

The man nodded.

"I see. You like that too."

"I guess," Kakashi murmured and closed his tired eyes. Even after he closed them, four Irukas stood before his inner sight, all of them showing the same examples of basic hand signs. Kakashi cursed. Too little chakra left. And seeing four Irukas was unhealthy even for his perverted mind.

With that happy thought, Kakashi passed out.

He was floating in obliviousness, light as feather, when the same annoying voice returned him to reality.

"Hey, Hatake! You hear me? Your girlfriend is done torturing kids and running here."

Kakashi was so tired; all he wanted was to sink into a nice long sleep. But, indeed, he heard Iruka's quick steps nearing. And soon enough, the teacher called him.

"Ha-, Ha-…" Iruka started twice, but each time, he firmly stopped himself from using the honorific. They were not alone, Kakashi's acquaintance sat frivolously near him on the desk.

Finally, Iruka composed his thoughts.

"Kakashi, what about dinner? I'm starving!"

The silver-haired jounin didn't move, continuing to half-lay on the desk, as if he was unconscious. Iruka frowned and fixed his narrowed eyes at the only man near his attendant.

"What did you do to him?" he asked menacingly.

"Better ask yourself what you did to him," the man spat, his voice disgusted. "He fenced his chakra manipulations, but I noticed they were focused on you. As I expected, you are a monster."

Iruka's eyes widened.

"I didn't imagine he'd use it all!" he came closer to the jounin and touched his silver mane. "Kakashi?"

"Wha…?" Kakashi moaned weakly. "Leave me alone!"

"I'll leave you alone, once I bring you to bed!"

"Maa, in that case, I don't want to be left alone."

"You are such a pervert!" Iruka muttered, helping the jounin to stand up. He placed Kakashi's hand on his shoulders and entwined his own hand around his waist. "Let's go."

The annoying man watched Iruka's manipulations with strange attention.

"Do you need some help?" he asked politely.

Iruka felt guilty and, somehow, was enormously angry at the man, though only because he was a witness of Kakashi's sacrifice. So he froze.

Very slowly, Iruka turned to the man and showed him his henged face with eyes red and fangs long.

Iruka grinned and the man's face began to turn white.

"No, thanks," said the teacher, doing his best to sound coherent because the fangs were a real hinder.

Kakashi, who was literally hanging on Iruka's shoulders, opened his eyes when he heard the strange sound as if something heavy fell down.

"What was that?" he wondered, turning his face to look at Iruka. He was in time to see the teacher drop the henge. Iruka's eyes were full of tears.

"I almost bit my lower lip through! These teeth are such a pain," Iruka moaned, sucking at his bleeding lip. "And, by the way, your so-called 'friend' fainted."

Kakashi closed his eye tiredly.

"Again, stop bulling my friends. You should help him."

Shaking his head, Iruka tugged Kakashi's limp body out of the hall.

"He'll be alright; he's already coming back to his senses. And I have a feeling he won't be happy to see me again," hissed Iruka. "You'd better pity me, my lip hurts terribly and it's because of you!"

Iruka stopped in front of the staircase and sighed heavily. He felt dizzy just from imagining carrying his attendant all the floors up to their room.

"I'd kiss your lip better, but now I have neither the strength, nor the wish to move," whispered Kakashi.

"I appreciate your solicitude," Iruka sighed again and started his long and heavy way up the stairs. They progressed slowly, but Kakashi repeatedly slipped down, so Iruka had to catch his hand and return it to his shoulder every couple of steps. "Listen, Kakashi, can you please hold onto me and not fall?"

"Oh yeah? For you to have another reason to shout at me? This morning you said your body is just for your precious person."

"You are damn talkative for a man who used up almost all of his chakra," muttered Iruka angrily. They passed another couple of stairwells, before he continued, "I don't have a precious person either, so hold fast already!"

Kakashi hummed and tightened his grip around Iruka's shoulders.

"You are quite a mystery, you know?"

Iruka grit his teeth and walked forward. He felt like the silliest mystery in the whole world.


	13. Chapter 13

13:

Kakashi opened his eyes and focused his vision on the ceiling. It took quite an effort; his eyes wouldn't open properly, as if someone had stuffed them with sand. Wincing, but blaming no one because he clearly remembered his current state being his own fault, Kakashi scanned the apartment for Iruka's presence. Iruka wasn't anywhere near.

Moreover, Iruka wasn't anywhere on the same level of the building. Where the hell was he, then?

With a sigh, Kakashi lifted the blanket and looked down at his body. He was naked except for the underwear, including an uncommon t-shirt. As he didn't remember having this t-shirt before, it must be Iruka's. How nice of him to be so attentive.

Just how many more secrets does that teacher hide? If Kakashi didn't become the victim of the teacher's dirty nature himself just a while ago, he'd continue to think him a virginal creature.

The naughty experience itself was quite pleasurable though. Kakashi won't be against repeating it sometime soon. Yet, he won't appreciate to be on the receiving end again, it should be Iruka.

The memory of Iruka's persistent hands made Kakashi smirk evilly. After a second thought, if anything, he wouldn't protest Iruka's lead either.

But the teacher's absence worried Kakashi. What if he was freezing somewhere? Maybe, as a good attendant, Kakashi should stand up and look for him.

As this idea crossed Kakashi's mind, the door opened with a loud creak and a man's head appeared in the gap. Only, it wasn't Iruka.

"You again?" Kakashi drawled, surprised to see his friend enter his room without even a knock. "What if it was Iruka who met you here?"

The man winced, stepped into the room and closed the door behind him.

"He won't, he's in the canteen," He approached the bed and sat at its edge near Kakashi. "I'm here only because I know there is a long line there. And that monster of yours stubbornly stays in the line because he wants to get you breakfast."

Kakashi frowned. Iruka must feel cold if he stays in the line for a long time.

"Why did you come, anyway?" he asked, hesitating if he should be polite and hear out what his friend wants to tell him or clothe himself quickly and run to Iruka. The only problem was he didn't feel well enough to run anywhere and wasn't sure he'd be able to warm the teacher properly in this state.

"He's your superior during this mission, right? I guess it's not love and he forces you, although you don't realize it. I mean, I don't know what he did to make you be near him, but I've seen enough evidence that he is an evil itself. So if you need any help to get rid of this tiresome relationship, I'd gladly offer you my strength and skill. A creature like him must be defeated!"

In one quick, smooth movement Kakashi reached for the man's collar and pulled him closer, so that now they were face to face.

"Don't you dare to even think about laying your hands on Iruka," he hissed menacingly. "He's my problem. I don't want any help with something I'm dealing quite well with all by myself!"

"Calm down already! I don't mean any harm for him. Still, I say you look and sound troubled!"

Kakashi swore inwardly. Actually, it was his stupid joke that lead to this situation. He didn't know how to improve it, but he could imagine an approximate continuity to make it worse and he wanted to avoid it.

"Okay, I'll tell you the truth. It was me who asked him to fool you. Those red eyes and long fangs were only a henge."

It was quite entertaining to watch the man grin nervously.

"He's able to perform it, huh? It was very convincing! Damn it, I can swear he was serious when he almost jumped me right after the first day's conference!" the man shook his head, "But you, Kakashi. You are an ass!"

Kakashi ignored the offence. Glad that his friend didn't know how close he was to the real reason of Iruka's desire to jump people; he decided to end the talk quickly.

"Now, you know I'm out of trouble, is there something else you want to discuss?"

"Not particularly. And I don't think you are out of trouble," noted the man stubbornly, "Just to remind you what happened to you yesterday. Look at you; you are still weak as a kitten!"

Now, Kakashi became really annoyed.

"I'm not weak. I'd punch your rhetorician's face if it wasn't a peaceful gathering we are attending here! But I warn you – we'll see who'd be troubled when Iruka walks in and finds you sitting on our bed!"

The man's eyes widened and he darted away in an effort to get free of Kakashi's surprisingly firm grip.

"Gosh, let me go!"

"Only after I hear you say you won't do anything to hurt Iruka!"

The man raised both hands up in a surrendering gesture.

"Fine, I won't. Still, watching you suffer makes me uncomfortable, especially taking into account I owe you one."

Kakashi calmed a little and let go of him. Sometimes he couldn't understand people. If he saved this man once it was because it was convenient, nothing more and nothing less.

"Forget about it, it's nothing."

As the man started to shake his head and protest, they both heard a strange rustle combined with quiet muttering.

Kakashi's face brightened.

"It's Iruka!"

Simultaneously Kakashi's friend's face paled. His eyes darted here and there, looking for an escape route.

"He must have problems with the door while carrying the breakfast," he mumbled. "Kakashi, save me one more time please, I don't want him to find me here!"

In a burst of generosity, Kakashi shook off the blanket and stood up.

"I don't want him to find you here either. Iruka is sort of a jealous type, who'd decide I was guilty too. In spite of him not admitting it, it's a fact," he pulled the man to the door and made him stay right behind it, so that Iruka won't see him when the door opens. "I'll distract him and you whip out immediately. If we are lucky he has his hands full and won't notice your chakra."

Straight after whispering these words Kakashi opened the door and had to catch both Iruka and the tray with the food before they fell to the floor.

"Oh, thank you. I was trying to press the knob and then you opened it so suddenly, so…" Iruka constantly trembled because he felt cold, but smiled anyway, very much relieved they managed to save the food he suffered so intensely for.

Kakashi didn't let him end his clumsy speech. He tugged him inside and pressed him to his body, so that Iruka's face was hidden on his chest.

"Wha… Ka…" Iruka's muffled voice came in fragments, but what was the most important, the teacher's eyes could see nothing and attention was anywhere but not at the third figure present in the room. For an unknown reason, that figure continued to stay rooted to the spot behind the door, and stared at the infamous jounin embosoming the blushing teacher.

Kakashi rolled his eyes.

"Get out, you idiot!" he mimicked and additionally pointed his finger at the door.

The man finally unfroze, nodded and slipped away, flinging at Kakashi his quiet 'thank you'.

That was when Iruka started to struggle.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

"Warming you, what else can I be doing?" wondered Kakashi innocently.

"Don't start to warm my face first! I have other body parts, which crave urgent warming!"

"Please don't specify, I'm getting excited," teased Kakashi. Moving carefully, he let Iruka go, took the tray and regained his position in the bed. "Undress and come here, I felt even your cheeks are cold."

Iruka didn't listen to the jounin's babbling; he only nodded and started to hurriedly undress. His cheeks burned bright red now, so he didn't think they were cold anymore. But his entire body was cold for sure. And it is very hard to take off the clothes when your fingers are completely frozen.

"Need some help?" asked Kakashi politely. He knew very well Iruka wouldn't ask for help and wouldn't accept he needs help, but it was better to warn the teacher before coming closer and starting to undress him. If anything, he could bite. And these chattering teeth looked really scary!

"No, I'm done," Iruka muttered while crawling under the blanket. He rolled closer to his attendant and pressed his back to his warm side. That felt wonderful. After several peaceful seconds he gathered all his courage and also pressed his ice-cold feet to one of Kakashi's shins.

Kakashi didn't pull away or comment on these actions. Iruka exhaled a deep sigh of satisfaction and finally relaxed, enjoying his small dream world, which consisted only of the comfortable bed, thick blanket, and warm body as a main heater.

:+:

"Thanks for the food," Iruka was forcefully pulled out of his pleasurable reverie by Kakashi's words. "Do you want something too?"

"You are welcome," whispered Iruka. "I don't want anything, I'm not hungry."

Kakashi put a tray on the nightstand and turned to the teacher. He got lower under the blanket, pressed his body full length against Iruka's back and entwined his hands around the teacher's waist.

"Why aren't you hungry? You should eat a lot to keep yourself warm in this cold country," Kakashi whispered into Iruka's ear in a warning tone.

"It doesn't help, so why bother?" muttered Iruka angrily.

Unconsciously, Kakashi smiled. He already knew something was wrong.

"Did something happen? What's up in the outside world?"

"This conference happened!" hissed Iruka. "And it's getting more and more annoying with every single upcoming day."

"Would you tell me about it? I'm sure we can manage it together."

Iruka laughed bitterly.

"Yeah, together!" he spat, his voice full of sarcasm. Without thinking he pressed his back closer to Kakashi's chest, as if looking for protection. "Now, they invented an executive session, which can be attended by participants only. It would take place at some closed royal mansion and last for four hours at least!"

Kakashi couldn't help it, he whistled in admiration.

"You know, if I didn't know better, I'd say they do it on purpose."

"I start to think they really do it on purpose," confirmed Iruka angrily. "I'd like to say I'm ill and stay here, but I can't."

"C'mon, they want to impress us, not to kill. Let's say you are ill and I can attend the session instead."

"They won't allow an attendant there, you know it well. Let's say we are both ill and stay in bed."

"What a wonderful idea!" Kakashi made several short movements with his hips to show the teacher how he appreciates the idea of staying in bed together. "But we have a mission, remember? It's very important for the village."

As Kakashi's hips rubbed against Iruka's rear, Iruka gasped for breath and started to nervously wiggle in the jounin's arms.

"Okay, okay, you are right. I'll see if I can invent enough excuses to visit the restroom every five minutes to warm my hands under the hot water. I mean, it's if they have hot water in that old mansion!"

Kakashi hummed. He could imagine it quite well.

"Actually, by that 'together-in-bed' idea you reminded me of one technique. It could be helpful, but there is one problem."

"What technique?" Iruka turned around and faced Kakashi's troubled expression. "What problem?"

"Ah, how should I put it… It's a Hyuga-technique," Kakashi winced. "They can seal the chakra pathways; and I think it's possible to seal you for six or seven hours so that your blood will circulate normally."

"That sounds great! So, where is the problem?"

"As you can see, I'm not a Hyuga!" pointed Kakashi sarcastically. To make the note even more effective he tugged off his hitai-ate and winked at Iruka with his red sharingan-eye.

"Oh, right," Iruka's shortly brightened face saddened again. "It can't be helped then; I'll die young."

"Wait, wait. Who said you have to die? I can perform the technique."

Iruka frowned.

"I'm afraid I don't follow you. You just said you are not a Hyuga."

Kakashi gave out a short bark and started to explain.

"Listen carefully. I'm not a Hyuga, which means I can't manipulate concrete chakra points. What in its turn means, to perform the technique properly and be sure it works, I have to penetrate your body while sealing you."

"You say you have to cut me?"

Chuckling, Kakashi shook his silver mane. He patted Iruka's head like he'd do for a stupid little kid.

"There is no need to be so brutal," he said matter-of-factly. "It'd be enough to fuck you."

Iruka remained motionless and silent for a while, staring into Kakashi's mismatched eyes with his wide-opened brown ones.

Finally he averted his eyes.

"Then do it," he said quietly.

"What are you saying?" Kakashi resembled plaiting his fingers in Iruka's hair to calm the teacher down. "I won't force you, Iruka. It's cruel if you don't want to."

"It can't be helped, it's for our mission."

Kakashi chewed on his lower lip, thinking about Iruka's obedience for the sake of the mission.

"Well, I can do it only if you promise you'll try to enjoy it."

Iruka nodded shortly.

"It depends on how good you are at it, you know?"

"I'll do my best," said Kakashi seriously.

Iruka smiled and entwined his hands around Kakashi's neck, bringing their faces closer to each other.

"Fuck me tender," after whispering these three important words, he closed his eyes and pressed his forehead to Kakashi's shoulder, letting the jounin do what he can.

:+:

Naruto turned away and started to gather his things as if nothing had happened.

"Naruto?" drawled Sasuke. He hated to admit he hated to be ignored. He would prefer Naruto shout on him, or punch him, or even do anything at all and just express his emotions. Quiet Naruto was a scary Naruto. "Naruto, what are you doing?"

"Why, I guess we are done with the training for today. I'll head home," answered Naruto.

That answer was too polite and indifferent, it was definitely wrong.

"If you are angry at Genma, just spit it out, there is no reason to be like this!" hissed Sasuke furiously.

Naruto tilted his head to the side and looked at him.

"I'm not angry at Genma. Quite the opposite, I'm very grateful for his lesson."

Sasuke's eyes widened. He really hoped Naruto didn't get another crazy idea into his head after the stupid demonstration.

Besides, whose fault was it Genma happened to be so remarkably skillful at kissing?

"How was that again?" asked Sasuke slowly. "Care to share with me what you'd latched on?" He was ready to confront whatever Naruto had invented in his stupid dobe's head.

"How, you ask? It's very easy. It seems I don't need to ask you for a kiss, you see."

It was rather hard to follow the logic.

"Hn?" wondered Sasuke, doing his best to stay looking wise.

Naruto placed his hands on his hips challengingly.

"Well, Genma just came close to you and kissed you and you had to kiss him back. Wasn't it so?"

"It's not that I had to kiss him back. I chose to kiss him back because I felt like it," Now, that wasn't a good explanation for a dumb head like Naruto, but even geniuses have their weak moments. In Sasuke's opinion if someone doubted that fact, they should go watch Hatake Kakashi when he talks to Iruka-sensei.

Naruto shrugged.

"I'll choose a good moment and kiss you; and so I'll get my practical lesson."

"Who told you you'd succeed?" Sasuke's voice was full of sarcasm. "You are very bad at choosing right moments."

"Whatever. We won't find out until I try it, right?" with these words Naruto turned around and walked away, very pleased with himself and excited by the new challenge. "Night, teme!" he cried waving his hand.

Sasuke stared at Naruto's back until his friend disappeared out of sight. He had a feeling he was in even bigger trouble now.

"Surprise-kissing, huh? Thank you, Genma-san," he muttered and walked opposite Naruto's direction, angrily pinning the occasional innocent stones off the road. He thought he heard the quiet giggling sound behind his back. It must be his imagination though.


	14. Chapter 14

:14:

Nothing goes without leaving a sign, and you should consider yourself a lucky human if it's not a scar.

For almost a week already, Sasuke felt paranoid. With every passing day his state worsened.

It was all about a kiss. A kiss Naruto wanted to steal from him. A kiss which should, somehow, become mutual.

That thing Sasuke intended to avoid no matter what.

At first, he was only slightly alerted, keeping Naruto in sight if he was somewhere around and doing his best to escape when the situation resembled a possibility of close contact.

Later, he realized he started to jump when anyone occasionally, or intentionally, touched him and there was that steady twitching of one of his eyelids that drove him crazy. He couldn't do anything about it.

It nerved him enormously. He had his own problems and worries, like, for example, his brother and revenge, and now such stupidity as a mere kiss made him hysterical!

Finally, Sasuke's patience snapped.

It happened one evening, when his friend came to call him for a short training before bedtime.

"Let's spar!" Naruto cried cheerfully and stood there, in front of Sasuke, his hands in his pockets, a bright toothy smile on his face.

"Okay," said Sasuke. "What's after that?"

"After that?" wondered Naruto dumbly. He definitely didn't expect that question. "After that I want a big ramen bowl and a good long sleep. Why?"

"What, no kiss?" Sasuke asked, doing his best to sound casual.

There was a pause.

"Oh," Naruto drawled, scratching the back of his head. "A kiss?" He laughed nervously, showing Sasuke his famous dobe's smile. "Well, I guess I completely forgot about that."

He forgot? So Sasuke was the only fool a mile around?

That thought made Sasuke tighten his lips against an irritated scream. Naruto was Naruto after all, and no one said it would ever change.

"But, thank you for reminding me," continued Naruto as if nothing serious happened. He winked, demonstratively licked his lips, and brought his face close to Sasuke's. "I should do it already, shouldn't I?"

The way Naruto licked his lips reminded him of the same procedure he always undertook before starting to devour ramen. Sasuke winced and pushed his friend away.

"Gett off!" he cried angrily and turned around, feeling extremely pissed off.

The last thing he wanted to see now was that dobe's grinning face.

:+:

"Please, stop trembling," This plea of Kakashi's wasn't the first and, again, it went in vain. Iruka continued to tremble. It was Kakashi's fault too; he made the teacher lay on the bed completely naked and even threw the blanket far away.

Actually, Kakashi needed to concentrate on the body beneath him. Writing seals under the covers, blindly speckling the skin with complicated signs, wasn't Kakashi's exact specialization. Either he had to allow the huge probability of a mistake or Iruka had to suffer the cold air for a while. Only, Iruka's trembling totally distracted Kakashi from what he intended to do.

"If you won't stop trembling we won't get anywhere, so please, be good and try. It's for the sake of our mission, remember?" continued Kakashi patiently.

Iruka nodded several times. He wanted to be helpful, but his body didn't obey him. He bit his lower lip, closed his eyes tightly and strained his muscles to prevent any unwanted movements.

"Fine," whispered Kakashi. Very carefully, he lifted Iruka's hips and placed a pillow under the small of his back. Next, his hands rested on Iruka's buttocks. Previously, while touching those through his pants, he had suspicions it must feel great, but the reality exceeded his most frivolous expectations. Iruka's ass was shaped perfectly for his hands to cup it. He wondered if the place it hid would be just as perfect to welcome his full length.

Speaking of which, it was rapidly hardening thanks to the thoughts and sensations. Now, there was no way Kakashi could lose time reflecting and speculating. He had very important work to do, and it was not for his pleasure; it was for the village.

With a sigh, Kakashi covered his cock with the ointment he had specially got from the first aid kit and started to loosen Iruka's entrance with his slick finger.

"Already excited, I see," An unhidden admiration, caused by the view of Iruka's hardening cock, was clear in Kakashi's voice. "Look how swift you are."

"Look who talks," mumbled Iruka through the clenched teeth as he still did his best not to tremble. "I have felt yours too for a while already, you know!"

Kakashi smirked. Occasionally, he placed his cock to rest on Iruka's inner thigh and it was indeed stone-hard.

"Mission-mode," smiled Kakashi.

Iruka growled and turned his blushing face to the side to hide it in the pillow. Kakashi chuckled, grabbed the poor pillow and threw it away, somewhere to the blanket.

"Do they specially teach jounin to get erected under any circumstances?" Iruka asked bitterly.

Kakashi frowned. He didn't like the teacher's current mood at all.

"They do," Kakashi admitted, "But it's not the point," He did his best to make Iruka's hole loosen enough to take him effortlessly and painlessly, but it was probably impossible. "Damn it, how is it you are so tight?"

"I'm very sorry! I should know you'd prefer it huge and well-used!" snapped Iruka.

Kakashi reminded himself to be polite and patient.

"There is no reason to be so rude. I'm trying not to hurt you here!"

"Then stop playing around and stuff me already!"

"For you to charge me afterwards? You've been trouble enough so far, thank you very much."

At this point Iruka started to shout.

"Why won't you shut up and proceed, I'm not a porcelain doll, but it's fucking cold to stay this way, completely uncovered!"

Again, Kakashi reminded himself to be polite and patient.

"Wait just another minute, you'll feel better soon."

"Of course, how could I forget, Hatake Kakashi can't do anything in time. Late as always, aren't you?"

Now Kakashi was offended. Being usually polite himself, the teacher probably didn't get the clue how to recognize when other people were being polite to him.

"Here, big mouth, you asked for it," Kakashi said quietly and, in a couple of quick forceful thrusts, fully entered Iruka's ass.

"Gosh!" Iruka exhaled a long moan and arched his back. He shivered, now not only because of coldness, but also because of pulsating hotness perfectly deep in his ass.

"Stop trembling!" hissed Kakashi. "Lay still and don't ruin the process of sealing!"

"What, how can I ruin it?" wondered Iruka. He couldn't help it but wiggle slightly, causing the waves of pleasure to wash over his naked frame, warming his frozen skin.

"It'll be ruined if I come into you, I should be done with the jutsu before I orgasm, so don't tempt me."

Kakashi bit through the skin of his thumb and started to diligently put the long rows of signs down Iruka's bare stomach and around his navel.

Not able to calm down, Iruka made an effort to concentrate on his feelings. It was a mistake, because what he felt distinctly at the moment was Kakashi's big cock.

"You are huge!" Iruka didn't intend to say it aloud, but his whisper broke the silence like a thunder.

The jounin's concentration broke. Iruka felt Kakashi's cock twitch inside him and unintentionally arched, taking it even deeper into his body.

"Ah! Iruka, what are you doing? I'm almost there!" Kakashi put his left hand on Iruka's chest, pinning him to the bed again. Being that deep was helpful, of course, but even well-trained jounin had their limits when it came to the old good sex-game.

"Sorry, but it fits so perfectly," moaned Iruka, definitely not aware of anything around him now. With his eyes shut tight, cheeks burning red and hair disheveled, he was a natural picture of pure seduction in human form.

Kakashi couldn't help a grunt. It fit perfectly for sure, and it was only for the best. This way he could feel the whole surface of Iruka's insides and the seal should work without a hitch. It's a case he wouldn't want to spoil with his own sperm spilling there.

With enormous effort, Kakashi controlled himself, restraining his body from the mechanical impulse to punish the teacher with merciless thrusting. Instead, he averted his eyes and concentrated on the seal again.

"Just another few signs," whispered Kakashi, finishing his writing. He exhaled the sigh of relief and folded his fingers to start the sealing process.

It was when he noticed Iruka watching him, his eyes half-lidded and full of uncovered lust.

Kakashi's cock reacted on its own accord, twitching inside the tight passage. Iruka gave out a long moan of pleasure.

Never in his life had Kakashi gone through the sealing signs so fast. He completed the jutsu in mere seconds and immediately pulled his cock out of the teacher's body.

"Damn you, Iruka!" he managed to say, panting hard. "I almost failed!"

Iruka didn't hear him, he stared at his hands.

"It's… Kakashi, it's working, I can feel my fingers," he clenched and unclenched his fists and laughed merrily. "I can feel the energy circle under my skin."

"Yeah," drawled Kakashi. "It's because you are sealed and it won't go off into the milieu."

"Thank you!" Iruka cried and impulsively drew the jounin into a tight hug.

"It's only temporary," Kakashi murmured as their still hard cocks pressed together.

Iruka hid his face in the curve of Kakashi's neck.

"Even so, I feel so alive, it's almost blinding."

As if by mutual consent they began to rub their bodies against each other and kept silent until both came to their completion.

Kakashi was relieved they did it together; it was faster and easier this way.

As soon as he caught his breath after his orgasm, he stood up, got the wet towel from the bathroom and cleaned himself, then the teacher.

Iruka already stopped worrying he was naked. He didn't feel cold, he felt great and fit, if anything. So, he spread his limbs on the bed, letting Kakashi clean him and simultaneously enjoying the satisfying tiredness and energy running through his veins.

"Hey," grumbled Kakashi, a little bit confused by the teacher's abstractedness. "Don't lie around like this, run to your executive session already. What did I seal you for?"

"My session? What about it? It won't start until after midday," mumbled Iruka, dozing off.

Kakashi's jaw dropped. By midday the seal's time would be half way through! He grabbed Iruka by the shoulders and shook him.

"Don't tell me I have to go through this torture again!"

Without opening his eyes, Iruka entwined his hands around Kakashi's torso, rolled on top of him and rested his head on his chest, sniffing merely, almost asleep.

That was unfair! Highly irritated, Kakashi hissed and tried to push the teacher off.

"I'm not your fucking pillow!"

"Yes you are. Because of you I've got no other pillows; you must substitute for them."

Kakashi stopped pushing and fidgeting under Iruka and sighed, thinking about what he'd gotten himself into.

Iruka seemed deep asleep now, so he embraced the teacher's waist to not let him roll down occasionally in his sleep.

All in all, it didn't seem that bad, even in spite of being a bit pissed off by denying himself a good orgasm into a hot ass. Maybe he'll be able to get into Iruka's backside and treat it properly some day later, who knows.

Speaking of the ass. Without hesitation, Kakashi's hands slid down along Iruka's spine and rested at the round buttocks, squeezing them time after time, just to feel the perfect form of delicious flesh. Like this, Kakashi could sleep soundly, for sure.

:+:

Iruka woke up shortly after midday; his inner clock as infallible as always.

The unusual sensation of fulfilling energy made Iruka frown. In spite of knowing very well he was in the Snow-country, he felt his body as if it was normal. Kakashi's seal might be still working. That was just perfect.

That, and also Kakashi's body beneath him. It was perfect too. Iruka never thought he would be admiring someone's body to the point of masterpiece, but if that could ever happen this was exactly the case.

Iruka inhaled the jounin's specific smell and a shiver ran down his spine. The smell was intoxicating; the one Iruka knew he could get easily affected by, if he wasn't already.

When he made an effort to stand up, Kakashi's hands glided up to his waist and tightened around it.

"Where?" mumbled the jounin in his sleep.

"Bathroom," whispered Iruka into his ear. "I'll be back soon."

"'key," Kakashi let Iruka go and he hurried to escape before the jounin changed his mind.

On his way to the bathroom Iruka found two pillows and the blanket and picked them up from the floor. One of the pillows was wet; he'd have to clean it later.

He returned to the bed, put the clean pillow under Kakashi's head and covered him with the blanket.

The jounin murmured something unintelligible in his sleep and curled up under the blanket. Unmasked and sleepy, he looked just like an overgrown kid, sweet and innocent.

Iruka shook his head. That innocent kid made him really sweat recently. Not only because he was a dangerous man; he was his attendant and protector after all. He awoke the strange feelings inside Iruka's body as well as his soul.

'Falling for the deadly jounin is unacceptable,' said Iruka to himself as he stepped under the shower. He washed his body slowly, thinking about what was happening. There was no way he would wake Kakashi up and ask for resealing. Kakashi said it was torture for him. And Iruka didn't want Kakashi to suffer. The jounin was very attentive to him so far and, besides, Iruka hated to be a bother to anyone. To the ones he liked, in particular.

Actually, he tried hard not to let himself go crazy about Kakashi. It seemed impossible so far. Whatever the end of the mission will be, Iruka already knew his attitude towards Kakashi won't be the same as before.

That silver-haired jounin may be an arrogant teaser, yet he suffered a lot for Iruka's sake. He even had to publicly lie and give away the most of his precious chakra for Iruka. It was more than enough, really.

Only when Iruka turned the water off, he noticed he took a cold shower instead of the usual hot one. The seal was still working and he was going to take the best out of it before it fades away. He had several hours ahead. He'll decide what to do later, when he gets face to face with his problem and his limbs start to freeze again.

Afraid his determination would betray him, Iruka hurriedly clothed himself and left for the executive session without even throwing a second glance at Kakashi's sleeping form.


End file.
